3 


MlilMaMMi«lMMai<^ 


UBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 


BEHIND  THE  SCENES  IN  THE  REICHSTAG 
BY  THE  ABBÉ  E.  WETTERLE 


BEHIND  THE  SCENES 
IN  THE  REICHSTAG 


SIXTEEN  YEARS  OF  PARLIAMENTARY 
LIFE  IN  GERJMANY 


BY  THE 

ABBÉ  E.  WETTERLÉ 

EX-DEPUTY  AT  THE  REICHSTAG  AND  IN  THE  ALSACE-LORRAINE  CHAMBER 


WITH  A  PREFATORY  LETTER  BY 

RENÉ  DOUMIC 

MEMBER  OF  THE  FRENCH  ACADEMY 


TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  FRENCH  BY 

GEORGE  FREDERIC  LEES 

OFFICIER  DE  l' INSTRUCTION  PUBLIQUE 


NEW  YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


B^  228.5 
W4S 


Copyright,  1918, 
By  George  H.  Doran  Compcmy 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


A  PREFATORY  LETTER 

Dear  Abbé  Wetterlé, — 

It  is  a  pleasure  to  me  to  have  the  opportunity 
of  saying  what  all  of  us  in  France  think  of  you, 
why  we  love  and  admire  you,  and  what  a  place 
all  that  your  name  personifies  occupies  in  our 
hearts. 

Do  you  recollect  one  of  the  first  lectures  which, 
at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  you  delivered  in 
Paris?  The  Société  des  Conférences  had  invited 
you  to  speak  on  the  subject  of  the  dear  provinces 
towards  which  all  our  hopes  are  directed.  When, 
well  before  the  hour,  I  went  to  our  hall  on  the 
Boulevard  Saint-Germain,  I  found  the  approaches 
obstructed  by  a  compact  crowd,  which  desired  at 
all  hazards  to  enter  the  overcrowded  building.  It 
became  necessary  to  promise  this  disappointed  but 
obstinate  audience  u\at  you  would  deliver  your 
lecture  a  second  time.  You  might  have  reap- 
peared thrice,  nay  ten  times  before  our  honest 
and  responsive  Parisian  public.  It  would  not  have 
grown  tired  of  coming  to  hear  you,  and  I  say 
not  only  to  applaud  you,  but  to  drink  in  your 


vi  A  PREFATORY  LETTER 

words.  Those  were  magnificent  gatherings,  pene- 
trated by  a  sacred  thrill. 

What  you  represent  in  our  eyes  is  the  fidelity  of 
Alsace-Lorraine.  To  whatever  trials  that  stub- 
born fidelity  has  been  submitted,  it  has  never 
flinched.  Even  when  France  seemed  to  be  ab- 
sorbed in  sad  interior  quarrels  and  to  follow  up 
with  less  impatience  the  imprescriptible  claim, 
you  persevered  your  faith  intact.  Not  for  a 
moment  was  your  thought  turned  from  us.  And 
that  thought  has  been  your  whole  thought — the 
thought  which  has  inspired  your  whole  life — your 
unique  thought. 

And  what  you  also  represent  is  the  determina- 
tion to  become  French  once  more,  you  who  in 
your  conscience  have  never  ceased  to  be  French, 
among  the  best  French  of  France.  For  you  did 
not  confine  yourself  to  platonic  protests,  you  did 
not  content  yourself  with  the  vagueness  of  touch- 
ing regrets  and  hopes.  Vain  home-sickness  is  not 
the  thing  for  you.  To  will,  is  really  to  employ 
all  the  means  which  lead  to  a  given  end  ;  and  under 
the  most  oppressive  yoke,  face  to  face  with  the 
most  inventive  tyranny,  you  have  never  let  slip 
an  opportunity,  you  have  never  neglected  a  means 
of  hastening  the  liberating  end. 

Fidelity  and  determination  make  up  the  whole 
of  you.    One  has  only  to  look  at  yoa.    Thick-set, 


A  PREFATORY  LETTER  vii 

strong  in  the  back,  square-shouldered  and  round- 
headed,  you  are  strength  itself.  You  were  cut 
out  for  strife,  and  in  the  midst  of  strife  you  are 
in  your  element.  You  have  striven  for  the  com- 
mon cause.  You  have  suffered.  You  have  braved 
persecution  and  undergone  imprisonment.  Your 
prestige  is  the  result  of  that,  and  thence,  too, 
comes  your  authority.  To  speak  and  to  write 
is  in  your  case  to  act.  It  is  much  the  fashion  now- 
adays to  extol  action,  in  words.  And  from  the 
way  in  which  some  people  celebrate  it,  I  cannot 
help  thinking  of  those  comic-opera  singers  who 
interminably  repeat  "Let  us  be  off!  Let  us  be 
off!"  whilst  stamping  about  on  the  stage.  What 
they  call  action  is  mere  talk  about  action.  You, 
on  the  other  hand,  are  not  a  maker  of  phrases; 
deeds  alone  are  to  your  fancy.  Beneath  each  word 
you  utter  there  is  a  reality;  every  one  carries, 
every  one  is  a  shot. 

You  write  in  the  same  manner.  You  have 
written  thousands  of  articles.  There  is  not  one 
of  them  which  was  written  with  the  mere  object 
of  producing  an  article  to  occupy  or  amuse  the 
gallery.  No.  Every  one — precise  and  direct — 
was  aimed  at  an  immediate  object.  That  was  a 
part  of  your  action.  Since  the  beginning  of  the 
war  you  have  published  several  books,  but  there 


viii  A  PREFATORY  LETTER 

is  not  one  of  them  which  was  not  evolved  from  an 
idea  bearing  within  it  an  active  virtue. 

Thus  it  is  in  the  case  of  the  present  volume. 

The  idea  which  has  guided  you,  around  which 
your  recollections — illustrated  by  your  narrative 
— have  crystallised,  is  as  follows. 

As  a  member  of  the  Reichstag,  you  have  seen 
German  politicians  close  at  hand.  You  know 
what  you  are  to  believe  about  them.  You  have 
been  present  at  their  debates  and  have  seen  them, 
as  in  all  Parliaments,  divide  themselves  into 
parties.  As  Conservatives,  Socialists,  or  members 
of  the  Catholic  Centre,  you  have  observed  them 
following  different  conceptions.  Only,  what  you 
have  also  seen — seen  with  your  own  eyes — is  that 
there  was  always,  in  any  and  every  case,  a  point 
at  which  all  divisions  ceased  as  though  by  magic, 
a  ground  on  which  all  could  meet,  an  object  to 
which  all  strained  in  common.  The  feeling  with 
which  all  were  in  accord  was  their  hatred  of 
France.  The  object  towards  which  all  strained 
was  the  destruction  of  France.  The  thought  in 
which  all  collaborated  was  the  preparation  of  war 
against  France. 

During  forty-four  years  they  combined,  -ar- 
ranged, strengthened,  perfected  the  formidable 
machine  which  was  to  be  direoted  against  us.  And 
we,  during  that  time,  continually  and  stubbornly 


A  PREFATORY  LETTER  ix 

closed  our  eyes  and  stopped  our  ears,  unwilling 
to  see  or  understand  anything.  We  worked  un- 
interruptedly— in  that  case  only,  alas!  uninter- 
ruptedly— to  weaken  ourselves.  We  complacently 
welcomed,  forbearingly  diffused  everything  which 
disarms  a  nation  and  betrays  it  to  the  enemy.  .  .  . 
Such  is  the  painful  parallel  which  the  mind  evokes 
when  one  reads  your  well-informed  pages.  .  .  . 
War  broke  out  at  the  hour  the  Germans  had 
chosen.  So  it  was  necessary,  in  the  magnificent 
reawakening  of  the  race,  that  French  heroism 
should  rebuild,  but  at  the  price  of  what  a  sacrifice  ! 
all  that  our  improvident  leaders  had  criminally 
undone. 

Thus  your  book  teaches  a  lesson — a  lesson  for 
the  present  and  the  future.  For  you  have  not 
written  these  recollections  merely  with  the  object 
of  reviving  a  dolorous  past,  nor  in  order  to  re- 
criminate against  our  faults  of  yesterday.  You 
would  bar,  in  advance,  the  road  to  fresh  errors, 
guard  against  fresh  weakness.  What  Germany 
was  before  the  war  she  is  during  and  will  remain 
after  the  war.  Nothing  will  turn  her  from  her 
object,  which  is  to  destroy  us.  She  is  aiming  at 
it  to-day  on  the  battlefield;  to-morrow  it  will  be 
in  the  economic  arena.  By  violence  or  perfidy,  one 
after  the  other  or  both  together  brutal  and  cun- 
ning, she  strains  towards  the  same  end,  which  is 


X  A  PREFATORY  LETTER 

her  end  in  war  and  in  peace.  It  is  for  us  to  know 
this,  and  not  to  allow  ourselves  to  be  duped  a 
second  time.  Voices  that  one  could  have  hoped  to 
have  been  better  inspired  have  already  hazarded 
the  advice  that  the  German  people  be  allowed  their 
free  development.  The  free  development  of  the 
people  of  Germany  .  .  .  you  know — you  who 
have  been  "Behind  the  Scenes  in  the  Reichstag" 
— what  that  means  :  the  enslavement  of  the  French 
nation. 

So  thanks,  dear  Abbé  Wetterlé,  for  the  assist- 
ance you  bring  us,  at  the  tragic  hour  at  which  your 
book  appears,  and  when  all  our  energy  ought  to 
be  directed  to  the  work  of  national  defence.  May 
your  words  be  the  warning  heard  by  all,  the  cry 
of  alarm  which  makes  known  the  danger,  the 
sursum  corda  which  exalts  our  courage  and  pre- 
pares it  for  supreme  heroism. 

René  Doumic. 


FOREWORD 

"Cannot  you  give  us  some  recollections  of  your 
parliamentary  life?" 

How  many  times  I  have  been  asked  this  ques- 
tion by  editors  of  papers  and  reviews  ! 

I  have  always  hesitated  to  respond  to  these 
pressing  requests,  first  because  these  excursions 
into  the  past,  before  the  outbreak  of  war,  can  have 
but  slight  interest,  and  secondly  because,  being 
deprived  of  my  notes,  forgotten  at  Colmar  or 
deposited  in  a  safe  place  in  a  neutral  country,  I 
am  obliged  to  rely  wholly  on  my  memory,  which 
often  fails  me. 

All  that  happened  before  the  war  is  already  so 
far  away  from  us.  In  recalling  these  reminis- 
cences of  a  still  near  past,  it  seems  as  though  one 
were  turning  over  the  pages  of  an  old  conjuring- 
book.  And  yet  the  whole  tragedy  of  to-day  was 
in  being  in  the  events  before  1914,  and  the  more  I 
reflect  on  what  I  observed  and  heard,  both  at 
Berlin  and  at  Strassburg,  the  more  I  confess  to 
myself  that  we  were,  with  a  few  exceptions, 
stricken  with  blindness  in  not  seeing  the  big  thun- 
der clouds  gathering  on  the  horizon. 


xii  FOREWORD 

That  is  the  reason  why,  overcoming  my  fear  of 
being  very  incomplete,  I  have  decided  to  set  down, 
in  a  desultory  manner,  whatever  events  in  my  po- 
litical past  seem  to  me  to  present  retrospective 
interest. 


CONTENTS 


I.  How  I  Entered  Politics 
II.  Arrival  at  Berlin 

III.  The  Parties  of  the  Reichstag 

IV.  Pen  Porttraits  of  Parliamentarians 
V.  Foreign  Politics 

VI.  Pan-Germanism 

VII.  Militarism  in  German  Politics 
VIII.  The  Emperor  and  Parliament  . 
IX.  The  Growth  of  Imperialism 
X.  Mt  Defence  of  Alsace-Lorraine  . 
XI.  War  Aims  Foreshadowed      .     .     . 
XII.  Some  Prussian  Types 


PAGE 
1 

24 

46 

73 

98 

112 

139 

155 

178 

202 

226 

236 


BEHIND  THE  SCENES  IN 
THE  REICHSTAG 


BEHIND  THE  SCENES  IN 
THE   REICHSTAG 

CHAPTER  I 

How  I  Entered  Politics 

My  Election — The  Centre  and  the  Members  for  Alsace- 
Lorraine — Denounced  at  Rome — Bishop  and  Chancel- 
lor— My  La-wsuits — Two  Months'  Imprisonment — An 
Instance  of  German  Blackguardism — The  Bird  had 
Flown. 

It  was  in  1898  that  the  electors  of  the  arrondisse- 
ment of  Ribeauville  offered  me  the  candidature 
for  a  seat  in  the  Reichstag.  The  Abbé  Simonis, 
who,  since  1874,  had  represented  the  fifth  con- 
stituency of  Alsace-Lorraine  with  so  much  joyous 
energy,  had  just  retired  from  public  life,  at  the 
same  time  as  his  colleague.  Canon  Guerber,  who 
until  then  had  carried  out  the  mandate  of  the 
arrondissement  of  Guebwiller.  This  excellent  M. 
Simonis  had  been  condemned,  a  few  months  be- 
fore, to  pay  a  fine  of  600  marks  because,  at  a  public 

meeting  at  which  he  had  contested  the  candidature 

1 


2  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

of  Kreisdirektor  Poehlmann,  he  allowed  himself 
to  quote  the  Alsatian  proverb — "A  man,  a 
promise,  or  else  a  'What  do  I  care?'  individual." 

This  misadventure — rather  honourable  than 
otherwise — had  deeply  grieved  a  man  whose  ante- 
cedents had  been  spotless  until  then. 

But  M.  Simonis  had  a  more  serious  reason  for 
leaving  the  arena  of  public  life.  He  belonged  to 
the  generation  of  early  protestors  who  considered 
that  they  had  carried  out  all  the  obligations  of 
their  mandate  by  going  to  Berlin  merely  twice  or 
thrice  a  year  to  make  heard  there  the  voice  of 
Alsace-Lorraine,  inconsolable  through  having 
been  separated  from  France.  Now,  it  happened 
that  our  two  provinces,  forcibly  associated  with 
the  destiny  of  the  German  Empire,  sometimes 
suffered  cruelly  from  an  interior  legislation  in  the 
elaboration  of  which  their  representatives  system- 
atically refused  to  collaborate.  Therefore  the 
electors  had  finished,  not  by  getting  tired  of  pro- 
testing, but  by  requesting  their  deputies  to  take  a 
more  active  part  in  the  work  of  the  Imperial 
Parliament.  M.  Guerber  and  M.  Simonis,  how- 
ever, would  not  consent  to  modify  their  purely 
negative  attitude,  so  an  appeal  had  to  be  made 
to  new  men. 

The  candidatures  in  the  vacant  constituencies 
were  oflPered  to  several  lajnnen — ^manufacturers, 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  3 

doctors,  and  lawyers,  all  of  whom,  in  spite  of 
earnest  requests,  politely  refused.  Thus,  a  week 
before  the  day  fixed  for  the  elections,  I  was  begged 
to  accept  the  struggle,  whilst  Canon  Roellinger, 
Curé  of  Guebwiller,  was  putting  up  for  M.  Guer- 
ber's  seat. 

Truth  to  tell,  there  was  more  danger  than  profit 
in  entering  public  life  at  the  time  of  the  dictator- 
ship and  the  regime  of  passports.  Terror  had 
reigned  in  Alsace  since  1888,  and,  though  the  elec- 
tion of  Jacques  Preiss  at  Colmar  in  1891  and  that 
of  Ignace  Spiess  at  Schlestadt  in  1896  denoted  an 
awakening  of  public  opinion,  the  reprisals  which 
had  immediately  been  made  by  the  Secretary  of 
State,  von  Puttkamer,  seemed  to  foreshadow  fresh 
acts  of  persecution  against  both  the  elected  candi- 
dates and  their  electors. 

Owing  to  the  very  short  time  at  our  disposal, 
it  was  necessary  to  improvise  manifestos,  posters, 
distributions  of  bulletins  and  public  meetings.  It 
was  a  week  of  excitement.  Fortunately,  our  elec- 
tors were  most  determined.  Roellinger  and  I  were 
elected  at  the  first  ballot  with  respectable  ma- 
jorities, although  we  had  three  opponents:  a  Gov- 
ernmental Catholic,  a  Liberal,  and  a  Socialist. 

Out  of  the  fifteen  seats  of  the  annexed  prov- 
inces,   the    Alsace-Lorraine    group,    which    had 


4  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

accepted  the  heritage  of  the  protestors,  secured 
eleven,  whilst  the  Socialists  won  three  and  the 
Germans  had  tc  be  satisfied  with  a  single  semi- 
success  at  Saverne.  In  fact.  Dr.  Hoeffel,  who 
represented  the  little  town  of  the  Lower  Rhine, 
which  was  later  made  illustrious  by  Lieutenant 
von  Forstner  and  Colonel  von  Reutter,  got  him- 
self received  at  the  Reichstag  as  a  guest 
{Hospitant)  in  the  fraction  of  the  Independent 
Conservatives  (Reichspartei) ,  among  whom, 
moreover,  he  played  a  very  obscure  part. 

Already  at  that  time  the  immigrants  and  the 
Government  had  but  one  object — that  of  forcing 
the  Deputies  of  Alsace-Lorraine  to  join  the 
groups  of  the  Imperial  Parliament.  For  having 
responded  to  that  earnest  request  during  the  pre- 
ceding legislatures,  MM.  Petri  and  von  Bulach 
had  lost  their  seats.  However,  the  Socialists,  who 
relegated  national  claims  to  the  background  in 
favour  of  political  questions,  were  not  restrained 
by  the  same  scruples,  and  their  representatives, 
from  Hickel  to  Bueb,  had  deliberately  joined  the 
ParHamentary  group  of  the  Extreme  Left,  which 
from  that  time  gave  them  the  support  of  the  Ger- 
mans. 

In  the  meantime  the  immigrants  had  tried  to 
penetrate  all  the  political  organizations  of  Alsace- 
Lorraine,  in  order  to  precipitate  the  evolution  de- 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  5 

sired  by  the  Ministry  of  Strassburg.  In  1891  I 
had  written  on  that  subject  a  pamphlet,  entitled, 
"Irons-nous  au  Centre?"  ("Shall  we  Join  the 
Centre?") ,  which  caused  rather  a  stir,  and  in  which 
I  combated  any  union  whatsoever  with  the  Catho- 
lic party  of  the  Reichstag,  because  that  union 
would  have  indicated  to  everyone  the  renunciation 
of  our  national  claims,  and  would  have  prevented 
us  presenting  and  defending  our  private  resolu- 
tions in  Parliament. 

During  the  following  twenty-three  years  I  had 
to  combat,  both  in  my  newspaper  and  at  our 
meetings  of  delegates,  the  ever-recurring  idea  of 
rallying  to  the  Centre.  Several  times  my  adver- 
saries, headed  by  the  German  professor  Martin 
Spahn  and  the  Alsatians  Muller  and  Didio, 
demanded  my  expulsion  from  the  party.  They 
never  succeeded  in  obtaining  anything  save  de- 
risive minorities  for  their  motions,  whether  frank 
or  hypocritical  ones. 

But  these  recollections  necessitate  going  back. 
My  pamphlet  "Irons-nous  au  Centre?"  brought 
me  numerous  and  enthusiastic  letters  of  encour- 
agement, Hke  the  one  which  followed  it  closely — 
"Parti  catholique  et  Coteries"  ("The  Catholic 
Party  and  Coteries").  It  was  doubtless  owing  to 
this  circumstance  that,  in  December,  1893,  I  was 
entrusted  by  JNI.  Jung,  the  printer,  with  the  man- 


6  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

agement  of  the  Journal  de  Colmar,  a  bi-weekly 
journal  printed  entirely  in  the  French  language. 

Before  leaving  the  parochial  ministry  (at  that 
time  I  was  curate  in  the  artisan  parish  of  St. 
Joseph  at  Miilhausen,  a  parish  justly  celebrated 
for  its  numerous  and  prosperous  social  works)  I 
called  on  the  Bishop  of  Strassburg,  Mgr.  Fritzen, 
who  still  occupies  the  see  of  St.  Arbogast.  And 
this  is  what  the  prelate,  whose  two  brothers  were 
then  members  of  the  Reichstag,  said  to  me  : 

"I  am  aware  that  the  politics  which  you  will 
uphold  in  your  paper  are  not  mine;  but  I  do  not 
think  I  have  the  right  to  forbid  you  to  defend 
the  interests  of  the  population  in  your  own  man- 
ner. In  ecclesiastical  matters  you  will  obviously 
remain  subject  to  my  control.  As  to  the  rest, 
write  whatever  you  judge  fit.  It  is  not  for  me, 
as  a  bishop,  to  meddle  with  politics  properly  so 
called." 

I  asked  him  for  nothing  more.  Let  me  add  that 
Mgr.  Fritzen  kept  strictly  to  this  line  of  conduct 
and  never  attempted  to  give  me  the  least 
imperative  advice.  It  sometimes  happened  that  I 
discussed  with  him,  with  absolute  freedom,  prob- 
lems of  public  life  ;  yet  he  carefully  refrained  from 
exercising  the  slightest  pressure  on  me.  Better 
still,  on  several  occasions,  and  without  my  knowl- 
edge, he  undertook  to  defend  me. 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  7 

,  Here  is  the  proof.    In  1897,  at  Colmar,  I  had 

been  elected  a  County  Councillor,  and  at  the  first 
meeting  of  the  Council  I  had  to  take  the  oath 
required  by  the  law,  "I  swear  obedience  to  the 
Constitution  and  fidelity  to  the  Emperor." 

This  question  of  the  taking  of  the  political  oath 
had  been  raised  immediately  after  the  annexation 
in  1873,  on  the  occasion  of  the  County  Council 
elections.  The  first  councillors  to  be  elected  hav- 
ing refused  to  take  the  oath,  the  prefects  sus- 
pended the  sitting.  Gambetta,  consulted  by  the 
interested  parties,  very  wisely  replied,  "Compul- 
sion does  not  stand  in  the  way  of  the  exercise  of 
liberty.  If  you  do  not  take  verbally  an  oath  which 
your  heart  disavows,  all  the  seats  will  pass  to 
creatures  of  the  German  Government.  So  observe 
this  simple  formality,  which  does  not  necessitate 
the  slightest  renunciation  of  your  regrets  and  your 
hopes." 

The  advice  was  followed.  Nevertheless,  it  was 
always  horribly  painful  to  pronounce  the  fatal 
formula.  The  day  after  I  had  been  obliged  to 
undergo  this  hard  necessity,  I  published  in  my 
paper  an  article  of  which  the  following  is  a  sum- 
mary: "The  political  oath,  because  one  is  obliged 
to  take  it,  does  not  admit  of  the  obligation  of 
conscience.  Moreover,  though  I  have  indeed 
promised  obedience  to  the  Constitution,  it  is  with 


8  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

the  firm  desire  to  modify  it.  Finally,  the  promise 
of  fidehty  to  the  Emperor  ought  not  to  prevent 
a  Republican  (and  I  have  always  been  one)  from 
trying  to  change  the  régime,  provided  that  in  at- 
tempting to  do  so  he  does  not  depart  from  legal 
methods." 

The  article  produced  a  scandal.  The  Govern- 
mental Press  left  no  stone  unturned  in  attacking 
the  priest  who  had  dared  to  contest  the  holiness  of 
the  oath.  Now,  a  few  weeks  later,  the  Bishop  of 
Strassburg  addressed  to  me  a  letter  in  which  he 
announced  that  the  Pope,  Leo  XIII,  sent  me, 
through  his  mediation,  "his  whole-hearted  bene- 
diction." As  no  explanation  accompanied  this 
missive,  I  called  on  Mgr.  Fritzen  to  ask  him  for 
enlightenment. 

"I  did  not  want,"  replied  the  prelate,  smiling, 
"to  tell  you  sooner  of  the  plot  hatched  against 
you.  After  your  c^rticle  on  the  political  oath,  the 
Statthalter  (Prince  von  Hohenlohe-Langenburg) 
sent  to  the  Holy  See,  through  the  intermediary 
of  the  Prussian  representative,  a  long  memoran- 
dum, or,  to  speak  more  accurately,  a  virulent  in- 
dictment. The  Pope  sent  me  the  papers.  I  under- 
took your  defence.  Here  are  both  the  Prince's 
speech  for  the  prosecution  and  mine  for  the  de- 
fence. As  you  see,  Rome  says  'we'  are  in  the 
right." 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  9 

Indeed,  the  two  documents — copies  of  which  I 
have  preserved — establish  both  the  incommensur- 
able stupidity  of  the  Statthalter  and  the  perfect 
correctness  of  the  bishop,  who,  without  even 
informing  me,  had  protected  me  by  his  high 
authority. 

A  second  denunciation  from  Prince  von  Hohen- 
lohe  met  with  the  same  fate  the  year  after. 

An  amusing  detail.  When,  eight  years  later,  in 
1905, 1  had  the  honour  to  be  presented  to  Cardinal 
Rampolla,  he  welcomed  me  with  the  following 
words  : 

"Well,  are  you  satisfied  with  the  reply  we 
formerly  sent  your  Staathalter  ?" 

The  great  friend  of  France,  who  was  and  who 
remained  a  Cardinal  to  the  end,  was  once  more  to 
be  recognised  in  this  joyous  exclamation.  One 
had  only  to  see  the  mischievous  smile  with  which 
he  emphasised  it  to  be  able  to  guess  that  the  former 
Secretary  of  State  to  Leo  XIII  had  been  glad  to 
be  in  a  position  to  play  a  good  trick  on  our  pro- 
fessional Germanisers. 

Mgr.  Fritzen  had  once  more  to  take  up  my  de- 
fence in  the  spring  of  1914,  and  under  particularly 
difficult  circumstances.  My  lecturing  campaign 
in  France,  in  the  month  of  January  of  the  preced- 
ing year,  had  provoked  in  the  whole  of  the  German 
Press  the  most  violent  protests  and  caused  a  tor- 


10  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

rent  of  shameful  insults  to  descend  on  my  head. 
For  several  weeks  each  post  brought  me  a  dozen 
letters  or  post-cards  on  which  the  Boches,  be- 
longing to  all  classes  of  society,  exhausted 
themselves  by  expressing  insulting  words  and 
ridiculous  threats.  Moreover,  the  Leipzig  court 
had  been  requested  to  charge  me  with  high  treason, 
and  questions  had  been  asked  regarding  my  case 
in  the  two  Parliaments  of  Berlin  and  Strassburg. 
During  the  whole  session  I  was  boycotted  by  the 
majority  of  my  colleagues.  On  the  other  hand, 
my  electoral  committee  and  the  meeting  of  the 
Alsace-Lorraine  Centre  deliberately  refused  to 
separate  themselves  from  me. 

The  storm  had  already  partly  subsided  when, 
in  February,  1914,  I  called  on  the  Bishop  of 
Strassburg. 

"You  come  in  the  nick  of  time,"  he  declared. 
"It  is  barely  a  week  ago  since  the  Imperial  Chan- 
cellor, Von  Bethmann-Hollweg,  sitting  in  the  very 
chair  you  occupy,  earnestly  entreated  me  to  take 
the  most  severe  disciplinary  measures  against  you. 
I  replied  to  him  (and  you  will  not  be  surprised 
at  this)  that  I  deplored  your  political  attitude, 
but  that  I  was  not  in  a  position  to  censor  it.  You 
misemploy,  perhaps,  your  liberty  as  a  citizen,  but, 
as  a  priest,  I  have  nothing  to  reproach  you  with. 
Under  these  conditions,  I  should  make  an  ill  use 


I 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  11 

of  my  ecclesiastical  authority  by  exercising  it  in  a 
matter  in  which  all  Catholics  retain  their  entire 
independence." 

A  last  time  Mgr.  Fritzen  had  to  devote  his  at- 
tention to  me;  and  again  he  acted  with  all  the 
circmnspection  the  situation  demanded.  It  was  in 
the  early  days  of  the  month  of  September,  1914. 
I  had  just  published  in  the  Echo  de  Paris  several 
articles  signed  "An  ex-Member  of  the  Reichstag." 
The  German  Press  naturally  made  use  of  the  most 
violent  language  against  the  "traitor."  The  mili- 
tary authorities  demanded  of  the  Bishop  of  Strass- 
burg  that  he  proceed  to  execute  me  in  due  form. 
So  Mgr.  Fritzen  published  in  the  Catholic  jour- 
nals of  Alsace  a  letter  in  which  he  deplored  my 
attitude,  "which  was  contrary  to  my  oath"  (see 
above),  and  announced  that  he  .  .  .  removed  me 
from  the  list  of  Alsatian  priests  in  the  ordo  of  his 
diocese. 

Need  I  add  that  this  last  measure  is  inoperative  ? 
A  priest  can  only  be  detached  from  his  diocese  as 
the  result  of  a  canonical  trial.  The  lists  of  the 
ordo  have  merely  a  documentary  value.  They 
have  no  legal  value.  The  Bishop  of  Strassburg, 
therefore,  got  out  of  a  difficulty  by  a  veritable 
practical  joke. 

The  Bishop  of  ^letz,  INIgr.  Bentzler,  had  to 
take  a  similar  measure  against  Canon  Collin.    It 


12  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

is  true  that  he  added  the  following  words  to  his 
public  letter,  "I  am  opening  a  canonical  legal  in- 
quiry against  M.  Collin.  But  as  circumstances  do 
not  permit  me  to  serve  him  with  the  indictment, 
I  am  under  the  necessity  of  postponing  the  pro- 
ceedings sine  die."  As  in  all  probability  it  will  be 
the  future  Bishop  of  Metz,  Mgr.  Collin,  who  will 
conduct  the  case  against  Canon  Collin,  there  is 
every  reason  to  believe  that  the  sentence  will  not 
be  too  severe. 

However  that  may  be,  Mgr.  Bentzler  proved 
himself  on  this  occasion  to  be  as  witty  as  Mgr. 
Fritzen.  I  should  never  have  believed  two  Ger- 
mans capable  of  such  humorous  fancies. 

When  I  took  over  the  management  of  the 
Journal  de  Colmar  it  had  400  subscribers.  Four 
week  later  there  were  3,500.  I  attribute  this 
success  partly  to  the  intervention  of  the  Procura- 
tor of  the  Correctional  Tribunal,  Herr  Bernays, 
who  brought  a  sensational  action  against  me.  In 
the  early  days  of  January,  1894,  I  had  published 
an  article  containing  the  following  phrase,  "The 
plan  for  the  canalisation  of  the  Hardt  is  lying 
about  wretchedly  in  the  portfolios  of  the  Minis- 
try." The  Public  Prosecutor  saw  in  these  words 
an  insult  to  Herr  von  Puttkamer  and  opened 
proceedings.  The  sitting  was  epic.  The  Public 
Prosecutor  began  his  speech  for  the  prosecution 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  13 

with  these  words,  "Wetterlé's  journal  is  frivolous, 
it  violates  all  the  rules  of  propriety,  and  it  has 
assumed  the  mission  of  exciting  hatred  between  the 
people  and  the  notable  men  of  the  town,  the 
Government  and  the  persons  under  its  jurisdic- 
tion, the  natives  and  the  German  immigrants." 
He  spoke  for  two  full  hours  in  this  amiable 
manner  and  ended  by  demanding  a  sentence  of 
four  months'  imprisonment.  Preiss  defended  me. 
He  was  superb  in  his  rejoinder.  The  trial  ended 
in  an  acquittal.  During  the  sitting  the  court  was 
crowded  to  overflowing.  The  next  day  subscrip- 
tions began  to  flow  in.    My  paper  was  launched. 

However,  I  had  not  always  the  same  success 
before  the  courts.  My  judicial  record  is  very  bad: 
twelve  fines,  ranging  from  40  to  600  marks,  plus 
two  months'  imprisonment. 

One  of  these  lawsuits  was  extremely  funny.  In 
the  course  of  a  controversy  with  a  brother- jour- 
nalist of  Colmar  I  had  written:  "Le  journal  X 
.  .  .  pétarade  et  rue  dans  les  brancards."  Al- 
though the  metaphor  was  not  applied  to  a  person, 
the  manager  of  the  paper  in  question  thought  fit 
to  bring  an  action  against  me.  To  the  huge 
delight  of  the  judges,  counsel  for  the  plaintiff 
devoted  his  attention  to  the  most  improper  jests 
around  the  word  "pétarade"  I  pointed  out  to  him 
that  Saint- Simon  had  written,  "The  Princesses 


14  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

descended  to  the  garden  and  indulged  in  all  man- 
ner of  pétarades"  ;  and  that  one  could  not  honestly 
admit  that  the  celebrated  author  of  the  Mémoires 
intended  to  accuse  those  young  and  lively  persons 
of  improprieties.  But  this  did  not  help  me  in  the 
least.  I  was  condemned  to  pay  a  fine  of  100 
francs,  and  one  of  the  grounds  of  the  judgment 
solemnly  set  forth  that,  in  the  opinion  of  all  gram- 
marians, pétarade  is  equivalent  to  ''une  salve  de 
p  .  .  J"  This  lesson  in  French  was  well  worth  the 
fee  I  had  to  pay  for  it. 

Every  time  that  I  appeared  at  the  bar  the  same 
difficulties  of  translation  occurred.  Public  prose- 
cutors and  judges  grew  pale  over  dictionaries  in 
order  to  prove  me  guilty  of  the  blackest  designs. 
My  counsel  in  turn  were  obliged  to  consult  the 
most  learned  lexicons  to  establish  my  innocence. 
These  philological  discussions  amused  the  gallery 
immensely. 

I  do  not  glory  in  my  convictions.  Nevertheless, 
I  am  bound  to  point  out  that  in  the  text  of  all  the 
judgments  against  me  there  was  always  the  fol- 
lowing clause,  "Die  antideutschen  Gesinnungen 
des  Angeklagten  sind  gerichtsbekannt"  ("The 
anti-German  sentiments  of  the  accused  are  no- 
torious"). This  got  me  an  increased  penalty  each 
time.  The  judicial  authorities,  moreover,  never 
failed  to  extend  the  discussion  to  articles  which 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  15 

were  not  incriminated.  All  the  actions  brought 
against  me  were  for  constructive  offences. 

Honest  Hosemann,  a  Public  Prosecutor  whose 
candour  was  proverbial,  said  to  me  one  day,  "We 
guess  your  intentions;  but  you  always  know  how 
to  graze  the  dangerous  line  without  overstepping 
it.  But  take  care,  for  at  the  first  false  step  we 
shall  not  fail  to  catch  you." 

I  was  to  make  that  false  step  in  1909.  The 
director  of  the  Lycée  of  Colmar,  Gneisse,  a  pas- 
sionate pan-Germanist  pedagogue,  had  published 
in  the  Strasshurger  Post  an  article  in  which  he 
extolled  the  foundation  of  a  league  against  the 
"Frenchifying"  of  Alsace-Lorraine.  Gneisse  was 
the  most  grotesque  personage  one  can  imagine. 
Hansi  has  immortalised  him  in  several  of  his  cele- 
brated caricatures.  A  controversy  sprang  up 
between  the  pedant  and  myself.  Gneisse  was 
brutal;  I  replied  to  him  jestingly.  One  of  my 
articles  I  adorned  with  a  portrait  of  my  adversary, 
drawn  by  Hansi's  masterly  hand.  Now,  it  hap- 
pened that  one  day  a  young  collegian,  the  son  of 
one  of  my  friends,  came  to  see  me  at  my  office. 
Gneisse's  portrait  was  lying  on  my  desk.  The 
boy  asked  me  for  it  in  order  to  give  it  to  his 
father.  He  was,  however,  rather  imprudent  in 
showing  it  to  a  few  of  his  fellow  pupils. 

For  once  they  had  me.     Gneisse  demanded  a 


16  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

prosecution.  The  Secretary  of  State  tried  to 
make  the  pedant  understand  that  he  was  about 
to  cover  himself  with  immortal  ridicule.  But  in 
vain.  The  Public  Prosecutor's  office  had  to  inter- 
vene. Nobody  can  imagine  what  that  trial  was. 
My  counsel  Preiss  and  Blumenthal,  riddled  the 
director  with  epigi'ams.  It  was  pitiful  to  look  at 
the  wretched  man  whilst  he  strove,  with  the  most 
imperturbable  seriousness,  to  ward  oflp  the  shafts 
of  the  defence.  The  president  had  several  times 
to  threaten  to  clear  the  court,  so  noisily  did  the 
public  which  had  crowded  there  give  vent  to  its 
amusement. 

The  case  came  on  twice.  Hansi  had  been  con- 
demned in  July  to  pay  a  fine  of  600  marks.  As  I 
was,  in  that  month,  protected  by  my  Parliamen- 
tary immunity,  they  could  not  bring  me  to  trial 
until  the  recess  of  the  two  Chambers  in  September. 
So  Gneisse  was  obliged  to  submit  twice  to  those 
painful  sittings. 

Nevertheless,  the  court  sentenced  me  to  two 
months'  imprisonment  and  refused  my  application 
for  a  cross-action.  The  offence  had  been  very 
insignificant,  but  the  sentence  appeared  to  every- 
one, even  to  the  immigrants,  to  be  very  severe. 

The  day  after  my  condemnation  the  German 
officials  entreated  me  to  ask  for  a  pardon.  During 
three  months,  I  was  the  object  of  the  most  earnest 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  17 

solicitations  on  the  part  of  the  authorities — and 
even  the  members  of  the  Ministry — who  feared  the 
effects  of  any  condemnation  on  pubHc  opinion. 
To  put  an  end  to  them,  I  gave  myself  up  as  a 
prisoner  on  December  15th,  at  Colmar. 

A  few  days  before  I  had  had  an  interview  with 
Herr  Petri,  the  Under-Secretary  of  State  at  the 
Ministry  of  Justice,  and  had  asked  him,  as  a 
matter  of  curiosity,  if  I  should  be  allowed  to  read 
and  write  in  prison.  The  next  day  the  Govern- 
mental organs  reported  that,  fearing  the  severi- 
ties of  the  penitentiary  régime,  I  had  humbly 
sohcited  the  Minister's  kindness.  Thus  the  Ger- 
mans always  remain  faithful  to  themselves.  They 
are  obliged  to  besmirch  the  reputation  of  their  ad- 
versaries when  they  cannot  subdue  them. 

I  immediately  sent  a  letter  to  Herr  Petri, 
declaring  my  firm  intention  to  be  treated  as  a 
common  prisoner.  At  the  Ministry  they  were  very 
worried  by  this  new  prank.  The  Reichstag  was 
sitting  at  the  time  and  the  Landesausschuss  was 
about  to  meet.  They  feared  that  questions  would 
be  asked. 

On  entering  the  prison,  the  governor  had  me 
immediately  examined  by  a  doctor.  The  inter- 
view was  comic  in  the  extreme. 

"You  suffer  from  stomach  troubles,"  said  Dr. 
Steinmetz  to  me,  peremptorily. 


18  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

"Not  at  all,"  I  replied.  "I'm  as  solid  as  the 
Pont-Neuf." 

"But  look  at  that  swelling  at  the  bottom  of  your 
ribs." 

"I'm  rather  stout." 

"It's  a  certain  sign  of  difficult  digestion,  arising 
from  dilatation  of  the  stomach.  The  restaurant 
keeper  who  usually  supplies  the  prison  will  bring 
your  meals.  Moreover,  manual  work  would  de- 
press you.  You  will  therefore  be  free  to  follow 
your  habitual  occupations.  But  as  your  stay  here 
will  be  of  short  duration,  it  is  needless  to  ask  you 
to  put  on  the  usual  prison  dress." 

That  very  evening  they  brought  me  a  second 
mattress  again  by  doctor's  orders.  I  was,  in  ad- 
dition, authorised  to  receive  three  newspapers 
regularly. 

The  two  months  passed  all  the  more  rapidly 
because  my  lawyers  and  a  few  other  friends  came 
almost  daily  to  bring  me  news  of  the  outside 
world.  It  was  thus  that  I  heard  that  at  Strass- 
burg,  at  the  opening  of  Parliament,  my  colleagues 
had  placed  a  magnificent  bouquet  on  my  seat,  and 
that  Gneisse  had  once  more  served  as  a  Turk's 
head  for  speakers  during  the  Budget  debate. 

My  term  of  imprisonment  came  to  an  end  on 
February  15th,  1910,  at  5.45.  At  four  o'clock  my 
warder  came  to  tell  me  that  a  huge  crowd  was 


I 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  19 

assembling  in  front  of  the  prison.  When  I  came 
out  five  thousand  people  were  there  to  cheer  me. 
A  little  girl,  dressed  in  white^  presented  me  with 
a  bouquet.  A  carriage  was  waiting  for  me,  and 
by  my  side  Hansi,  my  friend  B ourson,  and  my 
colleague  Haegy  took  their  seats.  During  half 
an  hour  the  horses  had  to  proceed  at  walking-pace 
through  a  crowd  which  grew  denser  as  we  ap- 
proached the  Rue  Roesselmann,  where  I  lived 
with  my  mother.  At  our  flat,  where  every  piece 
of  furniture  was  covered  with  flowers,  INI.  René 
Henry  presented  me  with  a  superb  statue  of 
Jeanne  d'Arc,  on  behalf  of  a  group  of  French 
Deputies  and  journalists;  whilst  Hansi,  in  the 
name  of  a  group  of  inhabitants  of  Colmar,  handed 
me  a  bronze  representing  the  patron  saint  of 
Alsace-Lorraine,  St.  Odile.  The  people  of  Strass- 
burg  had  sent  a  bust,  "L'Alsacienne,"  by  Ringel 
d'lllzach. 

The  next  day  the  entire  Press  of  the  country 
filled  its  columns  with  a  narrative  of  this  spon- 
taneous demonstration.  The  anger  of  the  pan- 
Germans  passed  all  bounds  when,  having  gone  to 
Paris  a  few  days  later,  I  received  at  my  hotel  a 
delegation  of  students  of  the  Sorbonne,  who  came 
to  present  me  with  Larche's  ''Guerrier." 

My  imprisonment  had  another  and  a  much  more 
appreciable  result.     The  Journal  de  Colmar  had 


20  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

been  a  daily  for  several  months  past,  but  it  still 
appeared  in  a  small  size.  My  friends  gave  me  a 
great  surprise  by  buying  the  machines  necessary 
for  transforming  it  into  a  sheet  the  size  of  ILe 
Matin.  So  henceforth  I  had  a  more  serious  fight- 
ing organ  at  my  disposal.  On  coming  out  of 
prison  I  changed  the  name  of  my  journal,  which 
became  Le  Nouvelliste  d'Alsace-Lorraine. 

What  the  Government  had  feared  had  come 
to  pass.  My  conviction  had  turned  against  my 
persecutors. 

Let  me  recall  an  incident  à  propos  of  this  which 
made  rather  a  stir.  The  wife  of  the  Statthalter, 
Countess  Wedel,  a  most  amiable  Swedish  lady 
who  had  always  striven  to  establish  cordial  re- 
lations between  her  husband  and  the  Members  of 
Parliament,  used  to  give  every  year  a  soirée^ 
at  which  she  distributed,  in  the  form  of  objets  de 
cotillon,  little  souvenirs  to  her  guests.  Those  who 
were  unable  to  be  present  at  this  evening  party 
received  these  little  presents  by  post.  Now,  the 
Countess  thought  fit  to  send  me  in  that  way,  whilst 
I  was  in  prison,  a  silver  match-box  bearing  her 
monogram.  The  gift  was  accompanied  by  a  very 
friendly  letter,  in  French,  containing  the  following 
words,  "If  you  would  feel  transitory  satisfaction, 
take  revenge;  but  if  a  durable  satisfaction,  par- 
don."   Now,  one  of  my  lawyers,  having  come  to 


I 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  21 

visit  me  in  prison,  saw  the  Countess's  souvenir 
and  read  her  letter.  He  committed  the  impru- 
dence of  whispering  a  word  about  it  to  a  German 
colleague,  whom  he  thought  was  an  honest  man. 
This  fellow,  however,  could  think  of  nothing 
better  than  to  send  a  fiery  article  to  a  pan-German 
sheet,  to  protest  against  "this  scandal."  For  sev- 
eral weeks  Countess  Wedel  served  as  a  target  for 
the  fury  of  all  the  scribbling  patriots  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Rhine.  It  would  have  required  very 
little  more  to  make  this  stupid  affair  the  cause 
of  a  Ministerial  crisis. 

Of  my  journalistic  life,  which,  however,  was 
very  fertile  in  little  incidents,  I  will  say  but  a  few 
more  words.  I  was  taking  my  holidays  in  Switzer- 
land at  the  beginning  of  July,  1914,  when  I 
received  from  M.  Helmer,  Hansi's  lawyer,  a  letter 
containing  the  following  words,  "Take  care!  The 
action  against  you  for  high  treason  is  still  pending. 
The  French  translator  to  the  Leipzig  court  told 
me  last  week  that  he  was  instructed  by  the  tribunal 
to  translate  into  German  the  lectures  which  you 
delivered  last  year  in  France.  You  would  do 
well,  therefore,  to  put  your  papers  in  a  safe  place, 
if  you  have  not  already  done  so.  At  the  close  of 
the  parliamentary  session  they  will  certainly  make 
a  domiciliary  visit  at  your  house." 

I  returned  to  Colmar  immediately.    I  am  very 


22  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

conservative  by  temperament.  My  correspon- 
dence for  twenty  years,  which  will  enable  me  to 
reconstitute  in  part  the  political  history  of  Alsace- 
Lorraine  during  that  long  and  interesting  period, 
was  heaped  up  in  a  large  box  which  at  all  cost 
had  to  be  sheltered  from  German  curiosity,  for 
among  the  letters  thus  collected  together  there 
were  enough  to  compromise  a  hundi-ed  of  my 
friends. 

I  had  already  been  the  victim  of  a  manifest 
theft  on  the  part  of  a  German  employee  at  the 
printing-office  of  my  paper,  this  man  having  ap- 
propriated the  bag  in  which  I  kept  the  thousand  to 
fifteen  hundred  letters  I  had  received  from  Alsace- 
Lorraine  and  France  on  leaving  prison.  The 
odious  fellow  found,  however,  in  this  voluminous 
correspondence  only  one  really  interesting  docu- 
ment, a  visiting  card  bearing  a  few  amiable 
words  from  Baron  von  Bulach.  Needless  to  say, 
he  hastened  to  communicate  it  to  the  pan-German 
organs,  thus  causing  the  greatest  annoyance  to 
the  Secretary  of  State. 

On  July  15th  (note  the  date)  I  handed  the  box 
containing  my  letters  to  a  friend,  who  undertook 
to  send  them  abroad.  Now,  at  the  goods-office 
they  asked  him  to  inscribe  on  the  way-bill  the  fol- 
lowing mention,  "Unpolitischen  Inhalts"  ("The 
contents  are  not  political.")     Nothing  can  prove 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  23 

more  clearly  that,  already  at  that  time,  Germany 
foresaw  approaching  international  complications. 
My  friend,  in  ignorance  of  the  contents  of  the  box, 
filled  up  the  form,  and  the  package  was  able  to 
cross  the  frontier  before  the  opening  of  hostilities. 
When,  on  July  31st,  the  German  authorities 
made  a  search  at  the  offices  of  the  Nouvelliste  and 
at  my  private  residence,  they  found,  therefore, 
that  the  bird  had  flown.  I  had  prepared  for  them 
a  single  but  rather  disagreeable  surprise.  On  my 
desk,  placed  well  in  view,  was  the  correspondence 
which  I  had  exchanged  during  preceding  years 
with  Baron  von  Bulach.  I  doubt  whether,  on 
reading  it,  they  experienced  an  unmixed  pleasure. 


24  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 


CHAPTER  II 

Arrival  at  Berlin 

Ignace  Spiess — The  Reichstag  Palace — The  Speech  from 
the  Throne — The  Galas — Cook's  Agency — How  they 
Work  at  the  Reichstag — Double  Mandates — At  Home. 

It  was  in  November,  1898,  that,  accompanied 
by  my  newly  elected  colleagues  of  Alsace-Lor- 
raine, I  went  to  Berlin  for  the  first  time.  Com- 
munications were  still  difficult  in  those  days.  We 
took  sixteen  hours  to  cover  the  800  kilometres 
which  separated  our  provinces  from  the  Prussian 
capital,  and  the  carriages  placed  at  our  disposal 
were  inconvenient  and  badly  warmed.  Besides, 
it  was  necessary  to  change  trains  at  Frankfort. 

Berlin  is  a  very  ugly  city.  A  few  hours  suffice 
to  make  a  tour  of  inspection  of  its  buildings,  al- 
most all  modern  ones.  The  old  part  has  no  cachet. 
As  to  the  new,  it  is  built  in  that  odious  Munich 
style  which  will  be  the  eternal  disgrace  of  German 
architects. 

It  was  the  excellent  M.  Spiess,  member  for 
Schlestadt,  who  did  us  the  honours  of  Berlin. 
He  had  been  elected  two  years  before  under  cir- 


I 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  25 

cumstances  which  are  worthy  of  being  related.  In 
1893,  when  "the  peace  of  the  cemeteries" — to  use 
the  energetic  expression  of  Jacques  Preiss — 
reigned  in  Alsace-Lorraine,  the  Kreisdirektor 
Poehlmann  of  Schlestadt  had  offered  himself  as 
a  candidate  in  his  own  parliamentary  division. 
Never  had  official  pressure  been  displayed  with 
so  much  impudence.  The  German  Sub-Prefect 
had  made  use  of  Governmental  subventions  and 
secret  funds  with  unprecedented  audacity.  One 
instance,  taken  from  a  hundred.  In  a  certain 
commune  where  the  parsonage  was  in  a  bad  state 
of  repair,  the  official  candidate  had,  on  his  own 
authority,  ordered  that  they  should  immediately 
proceed  with  repairs  which  before  he  had  consid- 
ered inopportune.  Not  having  obtained  the  ma- 
jority in  the  Commune,  the  Kreisdirektor  had  the 
work  stopped  immediately,  and  for  several  weeks 
the  parsonage  was  without  a  roof. 

The  election  of  the  Sub-Prefect  was  contested. 
The  Reichstag,  which  itself  proceeds,  with  wise 
slowness,  to  examine  the  mandates,  took  three 
years  to  complete  the  inquiry.  At  last,  in  1896, 
Poehlmann  was  invalidated. 

Meanwhile,  M.  Spiess,  Mayor  of  Schlestadt, 
who  was  reproached  with  not  having  exerted  him- 
self sufficiently  on  behalf  of  Poehlmann's  candi- 
dature, had  been  removed  by  Secretary  of  State 


26  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

von  Puttkamer.  This  wholly  unjustifiable  meas- 
ure gave  rise  to  stirring  debates  during  the  sit- 
tings of  the  Landesausschuss  (the  Alsace-Lor- 
raine Parliament) ,  of  which  M.  Spiess  was  a  mem- 
ber, and  aroused  violent  reaction  throughout  the 
entire  country. 

So  the  electors  of  Schlestadt  offered  their  for- 
mer mayor  the  candidature  of  the  vacant  seat  in 
the  Reichstag.  Never  did  an  election  give  rise 
to  struggles  so  Homeric.  The  agents  of  the  Gov- 
ernment seized  the  Alsatian  candidate's  mani- 
festos, prohibited  or  disturbed  his  public  meet- 
ings, terrified  the  population  in  the  villages,  and 
took  down  innumerable  names  and  addresses  with 
a  view  to  prosecutions.  Nevertheless,  M.  Spiess 
scored  a  signal  victory.  His  election  marked  an 
evolution  in  the  public  opinion  of  the  annexed 
provinces  and  prepared  the  Governmental  defeat 
of  1898. 

Ignace  Spiess  was  an  honest  and  conscientious 
merchant,  as  hardworking  as  he  was  intelligent. 
He  had  for  a  long  time  belonged  to  the  group  of 
those  moderate  men  who,  placing  themselves  on 
the  ground  of  accomplished  facts,  strove,  whilst 
carefully  safeguarding  their  dignity,  to  collabo- 
rate with  the  Government  in  the  economic  restora- 
tion of  the  country.  During  long  years  he  had 
been,  under  the  direction  of  Canon  Winterer,  the 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  27 

veteran  of  our  political  struggles,  one  of  the 
most  attentively  listened  to,  and  also  one  of  the 
most  courageous  of  the  orators  of  the  Delegation. 
He  did  not  take  up  an  attitude  of  systematic  op- 
position; but,  every  time  a  question  of  principle 
arose  in  the  Strassburg  Parliament,  he  stood  up 
boldly  to  von  Puttkamer,  who  was  the  most  hot- 
headed, most  brutal,  and  also  most  despised  of  all 
the  Ministers  of  Alsace-Lorraine. 

When  dismissed  by  the  Secretary  of  State,  M. 
Spiess  considered  it  no  longer  his  duty  to  observe 
the  same  reserve  as  formerly  and  became  one  of 
the  most  determined  of  the  leaders  of  the  national 
opposition.  Once  more  the  Government's  surly 
policy  caused  a  semi-Moderate  to  join  the  ranks 
of  the  ultra-Nationalists.  How  many  times,  dur- 
ing my  long  connection  with  the  two  Parliaments, 
have  I  not  followed,  with  amused  eye,  the  evolu- 
tion of  my  colleagues,  who  formerly  were  consid- 
ered, wrongly  or  rightly,  to  have  exchanged  their 
independence  for  a  mess  of  pottage  in  the  form 
of  Governmental  favours.  All  those  ralliés,  dis- 
couraged by  the  Ministry's  violence,  came  back 
to  us,  one  after  the  other,  expressing  their  disgust 
in  the  same  stereotyped  phrase  : 

"No,  really,  there  is  no  means  of  living  with 
those  brutes." 

The  most  striking  conversion  was  that  of  M. 


28  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

Giinzert,  one  of  the  rare  Alsatians  who,  imme- 
diately after  the  annexation,  entered  the  German 
Administration.  At  first  Gunzert  was  well  re- 
warded for  this  betrr.yal;  he  obtained  rapid  pro- 
motion in  the  magistracy,  numerous  decorations, 
an  official  candidature;  nothing  was  withheld 
from  the  turncoat.  And  yet  the  hour  of  conver- 
sion struck  for  him  as  for  the  others.  He  had 
accepted  the  presidency  of  a  committee  for  the 
raising  of  a  monument  to  the  memory  of  the 
French  soldiers  who  fell  for  their  country  on  the 
Giesberg,  near  Wissemburg.  That  was  enough 
to  make  him  suspect  to  the  Government  and  to 
subject  him  to  the  vilest  insults.  With  a  tardy 
return  of  energy,  M.  Gunzert  recovered  the  con- 
victions of  his  youth,  and  he  also,  one  day,  ex- 
claimed in  my  presence  : 

"It  is  impossible  to  be  on  good  terms  with 
those  brutes." 

Ignace  Spiess  did  not  have  so  long  a  path  to 
follow  to  become  once  more  a  militant  National- 
ist. On  entering  the  Reichstag,  he  took  his  place 
in  the  then  very  small  group  of  Deputies  for 
Alsace-Lorraine  and  became  the  most  staunch 
political  friend  of  Jacques  Preiss. 

Spiess  acted  as  our  introducer  to  the  Imperial 
Parliament.  The  members  of  the  Reichstag  enter 
their  palace  by  a  reserved  door  opening  on  to 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  29 

the  Thiergarten.  Spiess  pointed  out  to  us  the 
extravagant  symbol  which  decorated  it.  Above  the 
door  was  a  powerful  stone  lion,  rampant,  holding 
under  its  left  paw  a  ball  on  which  one  could  read 
the  words  "Elsass-Lothringen."  The  representa- 
tives of  our  country  had  several  times  asked  that 
this  humiliating  sjTnbol  of  our  servitude  should 
be  removed.  But  they  had  not  succeeded  in  effect- 
ing this. 

Prince  von  Arenberg  was  more  fortunate  in 
1906  when  he  had  removed  from  the  Reichstag  a 
huge  picture  which  for  several  weeks  was  hung 
above  the  President's  seat.  This  canvas  repre- 
sented William  I,  Bismarck,  and  JMoltke  on 
horseback  on  the  Sedan  battlefield.  In  the  fore- 
ground a  German  soldier  was  stretching  a  French 
flag  under  the  hoofs  of  the  old  Emperor's  war- 
horse.  This  stupid  and  odious  provocation  was  a 
source  of  constant  joy  to  the  Prussian  Conserva- 
tives. Prince  von  Arenberg,  a  member  of  the 
Centre,  considered,  however,  that  the  insult  to 
conquered  France  was  too  indecent,  so  he  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  the  picture  relegated  to  the  room 
— far  from  the  eyes  of  the  public — where  the  Bud- 
get Committee  sat. 

The  Reichstag  Palace  is  an  enormous  cube  of 
freestone,  flanked  by  four  massive  towers.  Wil- 
liam II  himself,  whose  artistic  taste,  however,  is 


30  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

very  little  developed,  declared  one  day  that  the 
gilded  cupola  which  surmounts  the  centre  of  the 
building  was  "the  height  of  bad  taste"  (''der 
Gipfel  der  Geschmacklosigkeit") . 

Decorative  motifs  abound  inside  the  building. 
There  is  a  bewildering  excess  of  wainscoting,  bas- 
reliefs,  statues,  frescoes,  and  stained-glass  win- 
dows. Now,  you  may  search  in  vain  amidst  all 
this  accumulation  of  ornaments  for  a  single  em- 
blem which  reveals  to  the  visitor  the  destination 
of  the  palace.  Paintings  and  sculpture  glorify 
exclusively  the  Hohenzollern  dynasty,  when  they 
do  not  represent  subjects  which,  in  that  place, 
are  grotesque  in  the  extreme.  What,  indeed,  are 
those  huge  stained-glass  windows  which  remind 
us  of  the  gallant  adventures  of  Romeo  and  Juliet, 
and  the  tragic  destiny  of  Othello  and  Desdemona, 
doing  there? 

Above  the  door  where  the  members  enter,  an- 
other window  of  colossal  dimensions  depicts  a 
thickset  Germania,  around  whom  the  twenty-five 
German  states,  symbolised  by  children  in  carnival 
dress,  dance  in  a  ring.  The  stout  red-faced  girl 
holds  in  her  hands  the  two  ends  of  a  ribbon,  dis- 
playing the  colours  of  the  Empire,  which  winds 
round  the  waists  of  all  the  dancers.  One  cannot 
imagine  a  more  foolish  or  uglier  allegory.  The 
German,  who,  however,  in  practical  life,  proves 


I 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  31 

he  possesses  a  most  positive  mind,  always  discon- 
certs one  by  these  outbursts  of  sickly  sentimental- 
ism.  Thus,  the  guides  who  show  foreigners  over 
the  Reichstag  Palace  every  morning  never  miss 
pointing  out  to  them  that  the  building  is  con- 
structed of  stone  and  wood  from  all  the  Confed- 
erate States — a  fresh  material  symbol  of  impe- 
rial unity. 

Bismarck  was  right  in  saying,  "The  Latins 
were  civilised  ten  centuries  before  we  were,  and 
we  have  never  caught  up  to  them." 

The  interior  arrangement  of  the  Reichstag  Pal- 
ace is,  however,  luxurious  and  relatively  conve- 
nient. There  are  lobbies  abundantly  supplied 
with  armchairs;  a  big  gallery  over  96  yards  long, 
where  the  members  can  take  walking  exercise; 
bath-rooms,  a  gymnasium  with  complicated  appa- 
ratus, a  well-stocked  library,  a  reading-room  with 
400  German  and  foreign  papers,  spacious  writing- 
rooms,  a  number  of  small  reception  rooms,  private 
offices  with  telephones  and  couches,  hair-dressing 
saloon,  a  pharmacy,  and  a  restaurant.  Every- 
thing has  been  foreseen  to  enable  the  representa- 
tives of  the  German  people  to  find  in  the  build- 
ing itself  all  the  pleasures  of  life. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  acoustic  quality  of  the 
assembly  hall  is  very  defective.  It  is  true  that 
the  public  of  the  galleries  alone  complain.     At 


32  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

the  Reichstag  no  attention  whatever  is  paid  to 
speeches  delivered  at  the  tribune.  Rare  are  the 
speakers  who  retain  the  attention  of  their  col- 
leagues. The  others  speak  in  front  of  empty 
benches,  or  in  the  midst  of  the  deafening  noise 
of  private  conversations. 

I  was  present  at  the  opening  sitting  of  the 
Reichstag.  The  ceremony  took  place  in  the 
White  Room  at  the  Imperial  Palace.  We  were 
shown  up  to  it  by  a  back  staircase.  All  those  of 
my  colleagues  who  were  officers  of  the  reserve 
had  put  on  their  uniforms.  The  throne — a  very 
modest  one — was  situated  opposite  us,  raised  a 
couple  of  steps  from  the  ground,  between  two 
windows.  It  was  surmounted  by  a  canopy.  On 
the  left  stood  the  members  of  the  Federal  Coun- 
cil, in  gold  embroidered  coats,  covered  with  deco- 
rations. On  the  right  were  the  generals  in  full- 
dress  uniform.  Along  the  wall  the  Palace  Guard, 
in  uniforms  dating  back  to  the  days  of  Frederick, 
presented  arms,  whilst  the  officers,  with  little 
three-cornered  hats  on  their  heads,  held  berib- 
boned  shepherds'  crooks. 

I  have  described  elsewhere  the  grotesque  pro- 
cession which  precedes  the  Emperor  on  the  occa- 
sion of  these  official  ceremonies — a  procession  with 
heralds-al-arms  wearing  embroidered  dalmaticas, 
a  swarm  of  pages  in  knee  breeches  and  pink  doub- 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  33 

lets,  and  generals  carrying  on  cushions  the  in- 
signia of  imperial  dignity. 

The  Emperor,  who  wore  a  scarlet  cloak  over 
his  white  cuirassier's  uniform,  saluted  ceremoni- 
ously as  he  passed  by.  He  was  followed  by  the 
princes  of  his  family.  The  Crown  Prince  took 
his  place  on  the  first  step  of  the  throne,  to  the 
right  of  his  father.  Then  William  II,  after  put- 
ting on  his  helmet,  which  up  to  then  he  had  car- 
ried under  his  arm,  took  the  Crown  speech  from 
the  Chancellor's  hands  and  began  to  read  it  with 
a  nasal  twang.  He  laid  stress  on  the  principal 
phrases  by  roaring  a  little  louder  and  casting  an 
authoritative  glance  at  the  assembly.  Whereupon 
the  members  of  the  Reichstag  showed  their  ap- 
probation by  loud  cries,  in  chorus,  of  "Sehr  rich- 
tig!     Sehr  richtig"— "Hear!    Hear!" 

When  the  reading  of  the  speech  was  over,  the 
Chancellor  declared  the  session  of  the  Reichstag 
open,  and  whilst  the  audience  vociferated  the 
"Hoch!  Hoch!  Hoch!"  required  by  Court  eti- 
quette, the  Imperial  procession  formed  anew  and 
disappeared.  The  ceremony  was  as  paltry  as  it 
was  amusing.  The  members  had  the  look  of  little 
boys  on  whom  a  severe  schoolmaster  had  imposed 
an  imposition  and  who  had  no  right  to  resist.  In 
fact,  the  Reichstag  cannot  send  the  Emperor  an 
address  in  reply  to  the  Speech  from  the  Throne. 


34  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

Curiosity  led  me  to  attend  this  theatrical  cere- 
mony.   I  was  not  to  be  caught  again. 

I  had  also  the  opportunity,  in  those  days,  of 
attending  a  gala  performance  at  the  Berlin  Opera 
House.  The  Marshal  of  the  Court,  according  to 
custom,  had  sent  a  certain  number  of  invitations 
to  the  Reichstag.  There  were  only  forty  of  us 
there  that  day,  so  one  6f  the  tickets  was  handed 
to  me.  I  gave  way  to  temptation.  Once  more 
it  was  necessary  to  wear  a  special  costume  :  dress- 
coat,  knee  breeches,  silk  stockings,  and  buckled 
shoes.  Fortunately,  there  are  Court  outfitters 
in  Berlin  who  hire  out  these  costumes  by  the  day 
for  20  to  25  marks.  I  must  confess  that  I  felt 
some  disgust  when  pulling  on  those  breeches,  the 
freshness  of  which,  through  having  clothed  so 
many  unknown  legs,  had  departed.  Neverthe- 
less, in  the  evening,  in  company  with  some  thirty 
colleagues,  I  occupied  modestly  an  orchestra  stall, 
whilst  in  the  boxes  and  dress  circles  the  diplo- 
matists, high  officials,  and  general  officers  posed 
in  their  shining  uniforms,  side  by  side  with  their 
wives  and  daughters,  all  of  whom,  in  low-necked 
dresses,  had  donned  their  finest  jewellery.  The 
scene  was  marvellous,  and  yet  I  was  to  carry 
away  a  mournful  impression  of  that  evening.  In- 
deed, as  soon  as  the  Emperor  and  his  guests  ar- 
rived the  whole  house  rose.     Silently,  the  men 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  35 

bent  themselves  double  and  the  women  made  a 
deep  bow;  after  which,  on  the  curtain  rising,  a 
chilly  silence  reigned  during  the  whole  perform- 
ance. There  was  no  applause  except  when  the 
Sovereign  gave  the  signal;  no  private  conversa- 
tion, even  in  a  low  voice.  Moreover,  no  one  fol- 
lowed the  actors'  play.  All  eyes — in  which  one 
could  read  veritable  devotion — were  directed  to- 
wards the  Imperial  box.  After  two  hours  of  that 
torture  I  was  glad  to  find  myself  once  more  under 
the  Lindens,  in  the  midst  of  the  crowd,  which, 
notwithstanding  the  cold,  was  standing  there  gaz- 
ing at  the  wall  "behind  which  something  was  hap- 
pening." 

One  does  not  go  twice  to  so  tedious  a  spectacle. 

In  November,  1898,  at  the  time  of  my  second 
journey  to  Berlin,  I  found  myself  sitting  in  the 
railway  carriage  opposite  a  young  and  distin- 
guished-looking man.  I  had  a  long  conversation 
with  him.  He  was  a  representative  of  Cook's 
Agency.  He  was  about  to  accept  delivery  of 
the  Emperor  William  and  his  suite  for  the  voyage 
of  that  Sovereign  to  Constantinople  and  through 
Palestine.  The  agency  had  agreed,  for  the  sum 
of  three  millions,  on  the  followmg  route:  Venice, 
Constantinople,  Jerusalem,  Trieste.  Tips  were 
included  in  this  fixed  price.  They  are  economical 
at  the  Prussian  Court. 


86  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

This  voyage  to  the  East  was,  however,  to  have 
its  epilogue  in  the  Reichstag.  The  Chancellor's 
travelling  expenses  had  not  been  set  down  in  the 
contract  with  the  English  agency,  consequently 
the  Imperial  Parliament  was  asked  to  pay  an 
additional  60,000  marks.  The  majority,  with  very 
bad  grace,  consented  to  do  so. 

It  is  not  generally  known  that  the  German 
Emperor  has  no  civil  list  and  does  not  receive  an 
allowance  for  expenses  as  head  of  the  Germanic 
Confederation.  William  II  has,  therefore,  to  be 
content  with  his  Prussian  civil  list  of  17,000,000 
marks  and  the  revenues  from  his  private  fortune, 
about  which  we  possess  only  incomplete  particu- 
lars. The  King  of  Prussia  owns  about  205,000 
acres  of  land  and  300  residences  in  Germany.  It 
is  also  known  that  William  II  started  a  porce- 
lain manufactory  for  the  output  of  which  there 
is  great  competition  among  the  courtiers  and 
seekers  after  titles  and  decorations.  He  is  like- 
wise an  important  shareholder  in  the  Krupp 
works,  whilst  some  people  claim  that  he  has  in- 
vested a  considerable  capital  in  British  and  Amer- 
ican enterprises. 

However  that  may  be,  the  Court  remains  faith- 
ful to  the  old  Prussian  traditions  of  economy — 
I  was  almost  going  to  say  of  niggardliness.  The 
presents  and  tips  which  the  Emperor  distributes 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  37 

in  the  course  of  his  travels  are  lamentably  mean. 

On  several  occasions  the  Chancellor  attempted 
to  obtain  from  the  Reichstag  certain  frais  de 
représentation  for  the  "needy"  Sovereign,  but  a 
deaf  ear  was  always  turned  to  these  demands.  To 
indemnify  one  whose  duty  it  is  to  be  the  first 
among  "equals"  would,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Im- 
perial Parliament,  do  injury  to  the  federal  char- 
acter of  the  Empire. 

Parties  in  the  Reichstag  are  organised  in  a 
military  manner.  When  the  leaders  of  the 
groups  have  concluded,  amidst  the  mystery  of 
secret  deliberations,  advantageous  compromises, 
everyone  knows  beforehand  what  the  speakers, 
delegated  by  the  various  fractions  of  the  assem- 
bly, will  say  at  the  tribune.  "Bestellete  Arbeit'* 
("Bespoke  work")  say  the  initiated,  who  take  no 
further  interest  in  speeches  which  are  intended 
solely  for  the  electors. 

As  it  is  the  leaders  who,  almost  without  con- 
trol, do  all  the  parliamentary  work,  who  choose 
the  spokesmen  of  their  parties  and  submit  their 
declarations  to  a  rigorous  preliminary  censor- 
ship, the  members  who  have  not  the  honour  of 
belonging  to  the  directing  committee  of  their 
group  do  not  even  take  the  trouble  to  study  the 
Budget  or  read  the  various  Bills.  They  vote  to 
order.     Nothing  further  is  asked  of  them,  and 


38  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

they  easily  resign  themselves  to  this  obscure  rôle. 

I  do  not  believe  there  exists  a  Parliament  in 
the  vrorld  which  does  less  personal  work  than  the 
Reichstag.  The  reports  of  the  committees,  which 
are  merely  short,  dry  analyses  of  the  proceedings, 
are  almost  always  drawn  up  by  Government  sec- 
retaries and  are  simply  signed  by  the  chairmen. 

At  the  time  I  entered  the  Reichstag,  the  num- 
ber of  those  who  attended  was  almost  always 
ridiculously  small.  Out  of  398  members,  barely 
60  attended  the  sittings.  How  many  times  col- 
leagues, belonging  to  a  big  committee  and  there- 
fore obliged  to  remain  in  Berlin,  have  expressed 
their  surprise  at  my  assiduity. 

"Whatever  are  you  doing  here?"  they  used  to 
ask  me.     "Wait  until  you're  telegraphed  for." 

Indeed,  every  time  there  was  to  be  an  important 
vote,  the  Director  of  the  Reichstag,  advised  by 
the  party  leaders,  sent  urgent  telegrams  in  all 
directions  to  call  together  the  impenitent  strikers. 
It  thus  happened  that  three  or  four  times  a  year 
the  Parliament  was  full.  In  ordinary  times  the 
lobbies  were  empty.  I  recollect  that  at  the  time 
when  the  reform  of  the  Artisans'  Insurance  Bill 
was  voted  there  were  exactly  seven  members  in 
the  House.  The  President  took  a  pleasure,  after 
each  vote,  by  sitting  down  or  standing  up,  in 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  39 

noting  that  the  clause  had  been  "adopted  by  a 
big  majority." 

Voting  by  delegation  is  unknown  at  the  Reichs- 
tag. Only  the  votes  of  the  members  present  are 
counted.  A  single  member  may,  it  is  true,  point 
out  that  there  is  not  a  quorum  (half  plus  one  of 
the  elected),  and  in  that  case  the  sitting  must  be 
suspended.  But  it  hardly  ever  happens  that  re- 
course is  had  to  this  expedient  to  adjourn  a  vote. 
The  reason  for  this  is  very  simple.  As  soon  as 
the  parties  have  decided  on  their  line  of  conduct, 
they  know  mathematically  how  many  votes  will 
be  assured  for  the  various  clauses  of  the  Bill  and 
the  amendments  proposed.  As  each  Bill,  as  else- 
where, is  read  three  times,  and  as,  henceforth,  in 
case  of  dispute,  the  party  leaders  have  the  re- 
source, before  the  final  vote,  of  mobilising  the 
whole  of  their  military  forces,  every  surprise  is 
eliminated. 

That  is  so  true  that,  when  by  chance  those  pres- 
ent gave  a  majority  to  the  Opposition,  the  Oppo- 
sition itself  proposed  the  adjournment  of  the 
vote  until  the  true  majority  was  sufficiently  rep- 
resented. The  absent  ones  would  never  have  par- 
doned a  disagreeable  and  costly  journey  to  Ber- 
lin simply  to  exercise  their  right  of  vote,  by 
standing  up  or  sitting  down,  for  a  few  seconds. 

I  say  "costly  journey"  advisedly.    In  fact,  un- 


40  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

til  1906  the  members  of  the  Reichstag  received 
no  parliamentary  indemnity.  Moreover,  there 
was  no  refreshment-room  at  the  Reichstag,  but 
a  restaurant  where  all  the  refreshments  had  to  be 
paid  for.  Finally,  the  members  enjoyed  travel- 
ling on  the  railways  only  between  their  residence 
and  Berlin,  and  that  only  during  the  sessions. 
One  can  understand  that  the  number  of  those 
present  was  always  reduced  to  a  minimum. 

In  order  to  recruit  candidates,  the  parties  were 
obliged  to  offer  seats  in  the  Reichstag  to  mem- 
bers of  particular  Parliaments  who  received  an 
indemnity.  Still,  these  holders  of  double  man- 
dates interested  themselves  more  in  the  legisla- 
tion of  the  States  than  in  that  of  the  Empire. 
Only  the  Prussian  Deputies,  whose  Landtag  sat 
at  Berlin,  '  ould  easily  attend  the  sittings  of  the 
Reichstag.  Every  time  an  important  vote  was 
to  take  place  they  were  sunmioned  by  telephone. 
This  ciixîumstance  explains  the  preponderating 
influence  the  Prussians  had  been  able  to  secure 
in  the  Imperial  Parliament. 

However  that  may  be,  the  representatives  of 
other  States  came  but  rarely  to  Berlin,  because 
in  so  doing  they  suffered  a  double  loss:  expense 
without  any  compensation,  and  the  loss  of  their 
daily  indemnity  in  their  particular  Parliament. 

Prince  von  Biilow,  after  the  stormy  debates 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  41 

on  the  increase  of  direct  taxes,  devised  a  means 
of  improving  the  attendance  of  members  of  the 
Reichstag  by  according  them  a  parliamentary  in- 
demnity and  at  the  same  time,  still  for  the  dura- 
tion of  the  sessions,  a  pass  on  all  the  railways  of 
the  Empire. 

The  Germans,  however,  have  so  complicated  a 
mentality  that  the  most  judicious  reforms  as- 
sume a  strange  character  in  their  country.  The 
indemnity  was  fixed  at  a  maximum  of  3,000  marks 
(£150).  They  divided  it  into  monthly  sums:  200 
marks  for  the  month  of  November,  300  for  De- 
cember, 400  for  January,  500  for  February,  600 
for  March,  and  1,000  for  the  whole  period  after 
Easter. 

From  these  monthly  allowances  there  were  de- 
ductions of  20  marks  from  those  whose  names  were 
not  to  be  found  on  the  attendance  lists,  or  who 
failed  to  take  part  in  a  nominal  vote. 

Why  all  these  absurd  formalities?  The  reason 
for  them  was  very  simple.  The  shorter  the  ses- 
sions were,  the  larger  the  number  of  presence- 
counters.  The  Chancellor,  therefore,  aranged  for 
all  the  important  Bills  to  be  brought  on  for  dis- 
cussion after  Easter.  As  at  that  time  the  mem- 
bers' chief  anxiety  was  to  return  home  as  quickly 
as  possible,  whilst  receiving  the  larger  part  of 


42  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

their  indemnity,  the  discussion  was  inevitably 
shortened. 

The  pass  on  the  railways  of  the  Empire  also 
served  as  a  bribe.  When  the  end  of  the  session 
drew  near  the  Chancellor  informed  the  members 
— in  this  case  without  any  beating  about  the  bush 
— that  if,  before  leaving,  they  voted  such  and  such 
a  Bill  to  which  the  Government  attached  special 
importance,  the  Reichstag  would  not  be  closed  but 
merely  adjourned,  which  meant  that  during  the 
holidays  the  members  could  continue  to  travel  at 
the  expense  of  the  public.  Rarely  did  the  major- 
ity resist  this  tempting  prospect;  and  it  was  thus 
that  the  Imperial  Parliament  was  adjourned 
three  years  in  succession,  which  constituted  a 
record. 

Another  advantage,  moreover,  arose  from  this 
adjournment.  The  closure  is  supposed  in  Ger- 
many to  entail  the  annulling  of  all  the  work  of 
the  permanent  or  special  committees.  The  reform 
of  the  Civil  Code,  which  was  thus  constantly  be- 
gun again  ah  ovo,  not  only  after  each  legislature, 
but  also  after  each  session,  occupied  the  Reichstag 
for  more  than  twenty  successive  years. 

Prince  von  Biilow,  who  was  the  great  promoter 
of  pan- Germanism,  saw  clearly  the  advantages 
which  the  Central  Government  would  derive  from 
the  granting  of  a  parliamentary    indemnity    to 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  43 

members  of  the  Reichstag.  What  he  specially 
aimed  at  was  a  diminution  of  the  number  of  dou- 
ble mandates.  Indeed,  Deputies  who  belonged  to 
two  Parliaments  were  quite  naturally  particular- 
ists,  by  virtue  of  the  principle  which  has  been  em- 
bodied in  its  most  original  form  in  the  German 
proverb — "The  shirt  is  nearer  the  body  than  the 
coat."  Every  time  that  a  conflict  over  legal  capa- 
city took  place  between  the  Empire  and  the 
States,  the  holders  of  double  mandates,  fearing 
to  alienate  the  electors  of  their  particular  district, 
energetically  opposed  Prussian  attempts  at 
monopolisation. 

Thus  arose  perpetual  and  increasing  difficul- 
ties for  Imperialist  militarism,  which  was  anxious, 
above  all,  to  converge  all  the  energies  of  the  na- 
tion towards  the  great  war  of  conquests. 

From  the  day  on  which  the  members  of  the 
Reichstag  were  remunerated,  and  especially  on 
which,  thanks  to  an  ingenious  system  of  stop- 
pages of  payment,  those  who  belonged  to  two 
Parliaments  received  an  indemnity  taken  in  the 
lump  which  was  smaller  than  that  of  their  col- 
leagues who  sat  in  only  one  legislative  assembly, 
the  parties,  who  no  longer  found  themselves  faced 
with  a  candidates'  strike,  devoted  their  attention 
to  suppressing  double  mandates  as  much  as  pos- 
sible. 


44  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

The  effects  expected  from  this  measure  were 
not  long  in  becoming  apparent.  The  number  of 
attendances  rose  progressively  (in  recent  years 
the  quorum  was  always  exceeded),  and  the  mem- 
bers, sitting  solely  in  the  Reichstag,  freed  them- 
selves from  particularist  cares,  to  devote  them- 
selves heart  and  soul  to  the  interests  of  the  Em- 
pire. Prince  von  Billow  had  attained  his  end. 
The  counterpoise  of  the  policy  of  the  States  had 
disappeared.  Henceforth  nothing  could  arrest 
the  Imperial  Parliament  on  the  path  of  aggressive 
Imperialism. 

But  let  us  return  to  the  Parliament  of  before 
1906.  The  members  led  there,  associated  with  a 
few  loyal  ones,  most  of  them  attached  to  big  com- 
mittees, a  life  of  ease.  The  four  to  five  dozen 
Deputies,  lost  in  the  huge  building,  enjoyed  there 
all  the  pleasures  of  life.  A  very  numerous  staff* 
surrounded  them  with  a  thousand  engaging  atten- 
tions. The  sofas  at  the  end  of  the  assembly  hall 
were  not  crowded,  so  that  during  wearisome 
speeches  one  could  quietly  have  a  nap  there.  I 
have  seen  my  colleagues  stretch  out  at  full  length 
in  order  to  sleep  the  better. 

In  that  respect,  I  must  also  point  out  that  there 
is  an  absolute  disregard  as  to  dress  in  the  Imperial 
Parliament.  The  members  of  the  Executive,  like 
the  Chancellor,  the  Secretaries  of  State,  and  the 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  45 

Plenipotentiaries  of  the  Federal  Council,  wear 
fancy  jackets.  Herr  Scheidemann,  the  Socialist 
leader  who  has  been  so  much  talked  about  during 
the  present  war,  alone  departed  from  this  rule 
during  the  few  weeks  he  was  Vice-President. 
Never  was  there  a  more  impeccable  frock-coat  or 
a  more  carefully  curled  beard  seen  in  the  Reichs- 
tag than  on  the  days  when  the  "austere"  Social- 
ist occupied  the  presidential  chair. 

Scheidemann  was  not  the  only  Socialist,  how- 
ever, who  took  particular  care  over  his  toilet. 
Sudekum  was  regarded  in  the  Imperial  Parlia- 
ment as  "the  arbiter  of  fashion,"  and,  indeed,  his 
brilliant  waistcoats  and  sumptuous  ties  were  the 
admiration  and  aroused  the  envy  of  Conservative 
members  themselves. 


46  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 


CHAPTER  III 

The  Parties  of  the  Reichstag 

The  Centre  and  the  Alsatians — Eugen  Richter  and  his 
Friends — The  Volkspartei — Hasse  and  Bassermann — 
The  Conservative — Catholics  of  the  Centre — Martin 
Spahn — Hertling,  Groeber,  and  Schaedler — Particular- 
ism and  Imperialism. 

On  our  arrival  in  Berlin  we  were  the  object  of 
interested  attentions  on  the  part  of  the  members 
of  the  Centre  and  the  Democrats,  who  sought  to 
enlist  us  in  their  groups,  at  least  as  "guests" 
(Hospitanten).  These  good  apostles  thought 
that  they  would  thus  kill  two  birds  with  one  stone: 
first  of  all  lead  us  to  renounce  our  national  oppo- 
sition, and,  secondly,  assure  for  their  parties  a 
stronger  representation  on  committees!  Indeed, 
seats  on  the  committees  are  divided  among  the 
parties  in  accordance  with  their  numerical  impor- 
tance. 

But  there  was  no  reason  in  those  days  for  our 
yielding  to  those  earnest  requests.  In  fact,  the 
parties  of  the  Left  and  Centre  had  not  yet  evolved 
towards  Imperialism.  The  representatives  of  the 
oppressed  nationalities — Poles,  Danes,  and  Al- 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  47 

sace-Lorrainers — still  found  solid  support  among 
themselves  every  time  that  they  presented  their 
grievances  before  the  Reichstag.  The  Centre, 
which  had  barely  just  freed  itself  from  the 
clutches  of  the  " Kulturkampf  "  apparently  re- 
mained faithful  to  the  course  given  it  by  Wind- 
horst, Reichensperger,  and  Mallinckrot.  If  a  iew 
signs  of  weakness  were  already  to  be  observed  in 
the  case  of  Lieber  and  Spahn,  the  Groebers, 
Schaedlers,  and  Heims  had  not  abdicated  in  the 
presence  of  the  pan-Germanism  of  Hasse.  As 
to  the  Democratic  Party,  it  was  closely  grouped 
around  Eugen  Richter,  whose  ultra-republican- 
ism showed  no  signs  of  weakening. 

Let  us  stop  a  moment  to  examine  the  interest- 
ing physiognomy  of  the  last-named  politician. 
Tall  and  stout,  with  a  coarse-featured  face  en- 
framed by  a  shaggy  beard,  and  eyes  that  were 
almost  always  lowered  as  though  to  enable  his 
mind  to  reflect  the  better,  Eugen  Richter  had 
nothing  of  the  appearance  of  a  combatant.  And 
yet  few  men  exercised  over  Parliament  an  action 
so  powerful  as  his.  When  the  President  granted 
him  leave  to  speak,  all  the  members  gathered 
around  him,  for  he  never  left  his  seat  to  mount 
the  tribune.  In  a  weak  falsetto  voice,  the  shrill 
sounds  of  which,  however,  carried  far,  the  eloquent 
Democrat,  without  having  recourse  to  any  ora- 


48  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

torical  artifice,  without  a  gesture,  and  without 
modulating  his  intonations,  always  produced,  by 
the  sole  force  of  his  arguments  and  the  formid- 
able action  of  his  biting  irony,  the  most  profound 
impression  on  his  listeners. 

Bismarck,  who  could  not  stand  contradiction, 
used  to  leave  the  assembly  as  soon  as  Richter 
began  to  speak.  The  older  members  of  the  Reichs- 
tag had  retained  the  amusing  recollection  of  these 
distracted  flights  of  the  Iron  Chancellor. 

Few  debaters  had  the  courage  to  try  their 
strength  with  the  terrible  polemist.  Kardorf  and 
Kanitz,  like  Bebel  and  Singer,  only  reluctantly 
accepted  the  struggle  with  the  man  who  always 
succeeded  in  having  the  laugh  on  his  side. 

Richter,  in  a  celebrated  pamphlet,  had  formerly 
greatly  weakened  Bebel's  credit  by  describing  in 
detail  the  events  which  would  happen  in  Germany 
on  the  morrow  of  the  great  social  revolution,  which 
the  Socialist  leader  had  imprudently  fixed  for 
1898.  Bebel  never  recovered  from  that  straight 
blow. 

The  "great  Eugen's"  two  lieutenants — Miiller- 
Sagan  and  Lentzmann — vigorously  seconded 
him.  The  former,  more  diplomatic  by  tempera- 
ment, was  later,  when  he  succeeded  Richter,  to 
prepare  the  evolution  of  his  party.     The  latter. 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  49 

more  intransigent,  did  not  flinch  before  the  most 
revolutionary  formulas. 

I  was  in  his  society  a  great  deal.  He  deplored 
the  annexation  of  Alsace-Lorraine  and  under- 
stood quite  well  our  resistance  to  German  enter- 
prise. 

He  it  was  who,  one  day,  in  the  semicircle  of 
the  Reichstag,  said  to  me  in  a  loud  and  audible 
voice,  as,  with  an  angry  gesture,  he  indicated  the 
benches  of  the  Extreme  Left: 

"I've  come  to  wish  that  Germany  was  beaten 
on  the  battlefield,  so  that  we  could  be  rid  of  those 
fellows  there." 

Lentzmann,  who  was  of  apoplectic  tempera- 
ment, died  before  his  time,  as  happened,  more- 
over, to  Millier- Sagan.  The  presidency  of  the 
Democratic  group  became  very  effeminate  when 
occupied  by  those  weaklings  Miiller-Meiningen 
and  Wiemer,  who  were  made  by  Biilow  and  Beth- 
mann-Hollweg  to  crouch  and  cringe  before  mili- 
tarism. 

Mûller-]Meiningen  is  one  of  the  most  grotesque 
figures  in  the  Reichstag.  He  reminds  one  of  a 
mongrel  which  snaps  and  snarls  furiously  around 
the  legs  of  all  the  passers-by.  With  his  nose  in 
the  air,  as  though  he  was  ever  on  the  hunt,  he 
seems  to  be  always  on  the  look-out  for  an  oppor- 
tunity of  quarrelling.     His  speciality  is  a  stupid 


50  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

anti-clericalism,  which  is  not  confined  to  great 
problems  of  political  life  but  digresses  amidst  the 
twaddle  of  door-keepers.  Miiller-Meiningen,  in- 
deed, lingers  behind  to  ferret  about  in  the  dust- 
bins of  vestries  and  to  sift  the  most  unknown 
devotional  manuals  in  order  to  find  there  easy 
subjects  for  coarse  jokes.  I  have  never  been  able 
to  understand  how  it  is  that  this  little  Bavarian 
judge  has  been  able  to  acquire  the  influence  he 
possesses  in  the  Imperial  Parliament.  Prince  von 
Biilow,  who  made  the  political  fortune  of  Miiller- 
Meiningen  because  he  knew  he  was  ready  for  all 
sorts  of  dirty  work,  is  too  intelligent  not  to  despise 
this  vain  and  insupportable  person. 

The  holder  of  the  other  big  part  in  the  Demo- 
cratic Party,  stout  Wiemer,  is  more  serious,  al- 
though still  more  infatuated  with  himself.  I  knew 
him  when  he  was  a  mere  shorthand-writer  in  the 
Reichstag.  He  possesses  a  powerful  voice,  of 
which  he  makes  an  ill  use.  His  pretentious 
speeches  have  nevertheless  no  action  on  Parlia- 
ment. 

On  the  other  hand,  Naumann  is  one  of  the  most 
attentively  listened  to  of  the  orators  of  the  assem- 
bly. His  huge  body  is  surmounted  by  a  very 
small  head,  and  one  is  quite  surprised  to  hear  a 
thin  voice,  the  intonations  of  which,  however,  are 
skilfully  made  the  most  of,  come  from  so  power- 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  51 

ful  a  chest.  Naumann  is  not  destitute  of  a  certain 
nobility  of  character,  and  one  can  feel  a  certain 
communicative  emotion  vibrating  in  his  very  real 
eloquence.  Formerly  a  Protestant  pastor,  he 
specially  apphed  himself  to  the  study  of  the  social 
problem,  and  in  order  to  understand  it  better 
spent  a  few  years  in  a  manufactory  as  a  simple 
workman.  He  was  regarded  before  the  war  as 
an  abstract  theorist  with  his  head  in  the  clouds. 
His  very  elaborate  speeches  are  distinguished  in- 
deed by  imprecision  of  thought,  although  their 
form  is  always  perfect. 

Who  would  have  thought  that  this  sociological 
visionary  would  one  day  transform  himself  into  a 
practical  and  positive  realist?  Now,  it  was  Nau- 
mann who,  in  the  early  months  of  the  war,  con- 
ceived that  plan  of  a  Mitteleuropa  (Central  Eu- 
rope) which,  even  in  the  case  of  the  defeat  of 
Germany,  would  present  enormous  advantages 
for  the  Central  Empires  and  would  deprive  the 
Allies  of  all  the  fruits  of  their  victory. 

The  Popular  Party,  which  was  neighbourly 
with  the  Democrats  of  Eugen  Richter,  was  a 
group  of  local  interest.  It  was  composed  exclu- 
sively of  Wurtembergers.  Small  in  number,  it 
had  a  certain  influence  in  the  Reichstag,  thanks 
to  the  ability  of  its  leaders.  Payer  and  the  broth- 
ers Haussmann.    The  latter,  who  were  twins,  re- 


52  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

sembled  each  other  so  much  that  we  were  always 
mixing  them  up.  They  had  the  same  height,  the 
same  stoutness,  the  same  face  adorned  by  the 
same  drooping  moustache,  the  same  shrill  voice, 
the  same  tragic  gestures.  They  professed  the 
most  advanced  ideas.  Their  eloquence,  a  little 
too  solemn  and  redundant,  was  not  lacking  in 
manner  and  corrosiveness. 

Conrad  Haussmann,  now  the  only  survivor,  has 
gone  over  with  arms  and  baggage  to  the  pan-Ger- 
man camp.  Payer  was  to  precede  him  in  his  con- 
centration to  the  Right.  This  terrible  little  man, 
who,  thanks  to  his  incontestable  oratorical  skill, 
possessed  great  influence  both  in  the  Wurtemberg 
Parliament  and  at  the  Reichstag,  was  never  able 
to  get  rid  of  his  Swabian  accent.  That  gave  a 
special  attraction  to  his  speeches,  the  matter  and 
form  of  which  were  nevertheless  impeccable.  From 
the  day  on  which  Payer,  elected  President  of  the 
Lower  Chamber  of  his  native  place,  was  led  to 
frequent  the  Court  circles  of  Stuttgart,  he  gave 
points  to  Prussian  Conservatives  themselves  in 
the  expression  of  his  imperialistic  patriotism. 

How  many  of  these  ex- Socialists  I  have  seen 
transform  themselves  since  19011  Nowhere  bet- 
ter than  in  the  Reichstag  could  one  observe  the 
progress  of  pan-Germanism.  In  1899  I  heard 
almost    the    entire    House    indignantly    protest 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  53 

against  the  annexationist  theories  of  the  National- 
Liberal  Hasse.  In  1911  the  Left  itself  had 
adopted  these  theories,  and,  if  it  showed  a  certain 
reserve  in  defending  them  publicly,  it  did  not 
support  the  Chancellor,  who  practically  prepared 
their  application,  with  less  energy. 

The  fii'st  president  of  the  pan-Germanist 
League,  Hasse, — a  tall,  stout  man  with  a  \iilgar 
face  enframed  by  a  red  beard, — was  a  visionary. 
He  spoke  with  great  volubility,  in  a  thick  voice, 
and  his  eyes  lost  as  in  a  dream.  The  most  violent 
interruptions,  the  most  offensive  sarcasms  and 
laughter,  did  not  arrest  the  flow  of  his  ecstatic 
eloquence.  To  him  "Greater  Germany"  was  a 
dogma,  and  he  anathematised  all  heretics.  Min- 
isters and  Deputies,  who  took  upon  themselves 
to  contradict  him.  We  Alsace-Lorrainers  had  no 
more  redoubtable  enemy  in  the  Reichstag. 

Bassermann  was  Hasse's  most  docile  pupil. 
When  I  entered  the  Reichstag  the  head  of  the 
National-Liberal  Party  was  still  a  somewhat  un- 
important personage.  A  little  lawyer  of  Baden, 
with  no  great  ability,  he  had  had  the  good  for- 
tune to  marry  a  very  wealthy  Jewess,  which  en- 
abled him  to  devote  himself  entirely  to  public  life. 
Few  pohticians  have  had  to  suffer  so  many  insults 
as  Bassermann.  A  wandering  candidate,  he  has 
never  succeeded  in  getting  elected  twice  in  succès- 


54  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

sion  in  the  same  constituency.  But  never  has  he 
lost  faith  in  his  star. 

Bassermann  is  a  handsome  man.  Alas!  he 
knows  it  and  takes  advantage  of  it.  Too  well- 
groomed,  outrageously  pomaded  and  perfumed, 
he  struts  about  like  a  young  god  in  the  lobbies 
of  the  Reichstag,  which  do  not  seem  broad  enough 
for  the  graces  which  he  complacently  displays. 
One  can  guess,  when  he  speaks  to  a  colleague,  that 
he  imagines  he  is  greatly  honouring  his  interlocu- 
tor and  is  conscious  of  his  magnanimity.  Like 
the  peacock,  he  spreads  out  his  tail  as  soon  as  he 
is  looked  at.  Everything  in  Bassermann  indi- 
cates pride — his  attitude,  his  gestures,  and  his 
affected  speech. 

Governmental  without  restriction,  because  he 
openly  aspires  to  the  highest  posts,  the  leader  of 
the  National-Liberals  was  always  the  most  assidu- 
ous guest  at  the  Wilhelmstrasse  Palace.  All  the 
Chancellors  have  counted  him  among  their  most 
zealous  courtiers.  When,  in  Parliament,  ques- 
tions of  foreign  policy  arose  and  Bassermann 
unfolded  his  ever  voluminous  papers,  the  same 
disdainful  reflection  was  made  on  all  benches, 
"It's  the  Chancellor  who  is  speaking."  Everyone 
knew,  indeed,  that  Bassermann's  speech  had  been 
composed  in  the  Government  offices  and  that  the 


IX  THE  REICHSTAG  55 

highest  official  of  the  Empire  was  putting  into 
the  mouth  of  his  voluntary  colleague  what  he 
himself  could  not  say.  It  would  be  very  inter- 
esting, to-day,  to  examine  all  the  pre-war  speeches 
of  this  puppet,  in  order  to  discover  in  them  the 
secret  thought  of  the  Imperial  Government. 

I  have  retained  an  amusing  recollection  of  a 
short  conversation  I  had  with  Bassermann  the 
day  after  Prince  von  Billow's  fall.  To  appreciate 
it  thoroughly,  it  is  necessary  to  explain  that  this 
ambitious  man  had  ever  been  one  of  the  bitterest 
adversaries  of  the  Catholic  Centre. 

One  morning  I  happened  to  be  alone  in  the 
writing-room  when  Bassermann  entered. 

"Good  morning,  ]Mr.  Chancellor,"  said  I. 

Bassermann,  glancing  rapidly  around,  made 
sure  that  we  were  alone.  Then,  with  the  most 
charming  of  smiles,  he  replied:    , 

"Are  you  speaking  to  me?  Anyway,  you  can 
let  your  friends  of  the  Centre  know  that  if  I  be- 
come Chancellor  I  shall  be  in  perfect  agreement 
with  them." 

Since  the  beginning  of  the  war,  Bassermann, 
who  was  one  of  its  principal  artisans,  wore  the 
uniform  of  an  officer  of  the  reserve,  and  it  was 
especially  in  Belgium  that,  between  two  parha- 
mentary  sessions,  he  exercised  his  ability  as  an 


56  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

ultra-patriotic  administrator/  Do  not  let  us  show 
the  least  surprise.  All  the  foreign  nationalities 
of  the  Empire  always  found  in  this  man,  who  was 
as  mediocre  as  he  was  vain,  a  determined  adver- 
sary. 

I  knew  at  the  Reichstag  the  Conservatives  von 
Heydebrandt,  Count  Kanitz,  and  Kardorff.  The 
first-named — quite  a  little  man,  thin  and  restless 
— has  always  exercised  an  enormous  influence  on 
the  decisions  of  his  party.  He  was  laughingly 
called  *'the  uncrowned  King  of  Prussia,"  and,  in 
fact,  he  dictated  his  orders  to  the  Chancellor, 

The  Prussian  Conservative,  the  Junker,  is  in 
no  way,  as  is  imagined  abroad,  a  supple  politician, 
submissive  and  governmental  by  nature.  The 
country  gentry  of  the  Elbe  form  a  very  exclusive 
caste,  one  whose  rigid  traditions  will  suffer  no 
tutelage,  even  though  royal.  They  have  a  State 
doctrine  to  which,  amidst  all  changes  in  public 
life,  they  remain  immovably  faithful.  As  they 
get  themselves  paid  for  their  fidelity  to  the  throne 
by  all  sort  of  privileges,  and  occupy  all  the  avenues 
to  power,  they  have  forgotten  obedience,  and 
speak  as  masters  in  a  State  which  has  become 
their  property. 

Ministerial    posts,    provincial    governorships, 

^  Bassermann  died  almost  suddenly  in  July,  1917.  He 
was  sixty-two  years  of  age. 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  57 

lord-lieutenancies,  and  the  High  Command  in  the 
Army  are  theirs  by  right.  When  INIiquel  and 
Dernburg  were  appointed,  one  a  Prussian  Min- 
ister, the  other  a  Secretary  of  State  of  the  Em- 
pire, the  elevation  of  these  commoners  to  high 
posts  reserved  for  the  caste  provoked  an  explo- 
sion of  anger  in  Conservative  circles.  In  the 
regiments  of  the  Guard,  as  in  certain  cavalry 
regiments,  all  the  officers  belong  to  Junker  fam- 
ilies. Hence  an  effective  power  of  which  they 
often  make  an  iU  use. 

The  Conservatives  can,  if  need  be,  be  the  fiercest 
of  opponents  in  the  Prussian  Landtag  and  in 
the  Reichstag.  Chancellors  fear  them  and  almost 
always  capitulate  before  their  unreasonable  de- 
mands. Prince  von  Biilow  was  their  victim,  whilst 
Bethmann-Hollweg  was  constantly  obliged  to 
buy  their  malevolent  neutrality  by  concessions  of 
principle.  At  the  time  of  the  Canal  Affair, 
Junker  officials  were  seen  to  throw  themselves 
heart  and  soul  into  the  anti-governmental  agita- 
tion, and  in  this  they  were  openly  encouraged  by 
a  few  friendly  JNIinisters.  The  King  of  Prussia 
reigns  ;  Herr  von  Heydebrandt  governs. 

This  oligarchy  has  always  prevented  the  great 
kingdom  of  the  north  from  democratising  its 
State  institutions.  How  many  times  the  advisers 
of  the  Prussian  Crown  have,  during  the  last  cen- 


58  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

tury  and  under  pressure  of  events,  promised  re- 
forms which  the  Junkers  have  always  brought  to 
nothing  ! 

Between  1898  and  1905  the  star  of  the  Con- 
servatives grew  dim  at  the  Reichstag.  It  was  to 
assume  all  its  brilliance  during  the  years  that  fol- 
lowed, when  all  parties  in  Parliament,  after  the 
Algeciras  Affair,  saw  that  the  Great  War,  desired 
by  the  Right  and  the  military  party,  was  certain 
to  break  out  soon. 

Count  Kanitz,  one  of  the  best  collaborators  of 
von  Heydebrandt,  spoke  chiefly  on  agrarian  ques- 
tions. He  was  fiercely  protectionist.  This  tall 
and  emaciated  man  with  sympathetic  face  pos- 
sessed the  temperament  of  an  apostle  and  could 
retain  the  ear  of  the  Reichstag;  whilst  his  col- 
league Kardorff,  of  the  party  of  Independent 
Conservatives,  always  provoked  uproars  when,  in 
his  tremulous  voice,  he  attacked  the  Extreme  Left. 
This  ex-officer,  in  a  duel  with  a  student,  von  Ket- 
teler  (later  one  of  the  most  celebrated  bishops  of 
Prussia),  had  lost  his  nose,  and  wore  a  silver  one, 
the  paint  of  which  used  often  to  peel  off,  which 
did  not  contribute  to  make  his  physiognomy  agree- 
able. In  his  personal  relations  with  his  colleagues 
he  was  as  amiably  smiling  as  he  was  churlish  m 
the  tribune. 

This  contrast  between  the  worldly  courtesy  and 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  59 

the  political  attitude  of  the  Conservatives  is  one 
of  the  most  disconcerting  features  not  only  for 
the  foreigner,  but  also  for  the  Germans  them- 
selves. Highly  educated  men,  and  polite  some- 
times to  the  point  of  obsequiousness,  the  Junkers 
cut  a  very  good  figure  in  international  drawing- 
rooms,  where  alas!  the  most  cordial  welcome  is 
reserved  for  them.  That  does  not  prevent  them 
following,  everywhere  and  always,  with  inflexible 
tenacity,  their  policy  of  universal  domination,  and 
from  employing  the  most  questionable  means  of 
triumphing.  A  Pnissian  Conservative  will  have 
no  scruples  in  taking  part  in  espionage,  and  of 
course  under  cover  of  his  family  and  friendly  re- 
lations. Prussia  dominating  the  world  and  his 
caste  dominating  Prussia — that  is  his  constant  and 
almost  sole  aim. 

I  was  on  the  best  personal  terms  with  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Right,  who,  however,  every  time  an 
Alsace-Lorraine  speaker  rose  in  the  Reichstag, 
interrupted  his  speech  with  churlish  and  prepos- 
terous exclamations.  I  chiefly  came  into  contact 
with  Oertel,  that  simple  journalist  who,  through 
his  ability  as  writer  and  speaker,  made  a  select 
position  for  himself  in  the  ranks  of  the  Junkers. 
Oertel  was  the  t\'pe  of  the  jovial  politician  and 
good  fellow.  Unconscionably  stout,  he  still  fur- 
ther exaggerated,  through  dilettantism,  the  enor- 


60  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

mous  prominence  of  his  stomach  by  wearing  a 
white  waistcoat.  When  in  the  tribune  he  disarmed 
his  adversaries  by  a  running  fire  of  often  very 
successful  jokes.  He  also  wrote  subtle,  spirited 
and  passionate  articles  which  delighted  the  Right, 
In  his  private  conversation  he  became  the  sceptical 
politician,  who,  in  the  political  comedy,  found 
more  reasons  for  smiling  than  motives  for  getting 
angry.  Intercourse  with  him  was  all  the  more 
agreeable  as  he  was  thoroughly  acquainted  with 
all  the  petty  scandal  of  the  Reichstag,  and  he 
detailed  it,  apparently  without  malice  and  with 
many  an  indulgent  smile,  before  those  who  had 
the  good  luck  to  inspire  confidence  and  friendship 
in  him.  His  political  friends  were  not  safe  from 
his  practical  jokes. 

In  1898  the  Catholic  Centre  had  an  exceptional 
position  in  the  Reichstag.  According  as  it  gave 
the  weight  of  its  ninety-eight  votes  to  the  Left 
or  the  Right,  it  displaced  majorities  as  it  liked. 
Its  managing  committee,  of  which  Lieber  was  the 
prime  mover,  even  pleaded  this  pretext  as  an  ex- 
cuse for  its  evolution  towards  governmentalism. 
Can  a  party  which  bears  such  heavy  responsibil- 
ities as  regards  the  Empire  isolate  itself  with  the 
extreme  opposition?  INIoreover,  was  it  not  nec- 
essary to  repair  the  ruins  of  the  "Kulturhampf"i 
And  was  not  the  best  means  of  doing  that  to  get 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  61 

paid  for  the  services  rendered  the  Chancellor  by 
particular  concessions  ? 

Lieber,  who,  with  his  colleague  Spahn,  was  the 
initiator  of  this  policy  of  abdication,  was  a  lawyer 
by  profession.  Slim  and  small-statured,  the  pos- 
sessor of  a  long,  flowing  beard,  and  affected  in 
manner,  he  was  not  lacking  in  ability,  though  he 
wrongly  imagined  he  had  the  qualities  of  a  great 
diplomatist.  He  spoke  with  closed  eyes,  without 
a  gesture,  putting  his  interminable  phrases,  in 
that  nonsensical  language  at  which  the  Germans 
themselves  scoff  by  calling  it  Professorendeutsch 
(professorial  German),  into  the  most  precise  or- 
der. His  evident  anxiety  was  to  bring  himself 
into  prominence  before  he  tried  to  convince  his 
adversaries. 

At  first,  the  leader  of  the  Centre  tried  to  treat 
the  representatives  of  Alsace-Lorraine  with  a  cer- 
tain disdain.  But  when  he  encountered  an  unex- 
pected resistance  on  our  part  he  showed  greater 
suppleness  and  was  more  accessible.  Still,  we 
had  some  difficulty  as  long  as  he  held  a  preponder- 
ant position  in  the  Reichstag  in  getting  our  prop- 
ositions regarding  the  abolition  of  the  dictator- 
ship discussed.  Lieber,  in  agreement  with  the 
Chancellor,  always  found  an  empty  pretext  for 
adjourning  a  debate  which  would  have  forced  his 
group  to  censure  the  Government. 


62  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

Spahn  seconded  him  in  these  attempts  to  stifle 
our  demands.  Poor  Spahn  !  An  ambitious  magis- 
trate, given  to  cringing  and  begging,  he  was  gov- 
ernmental by  temperament.  Bad  luck  led  him  to 
join  an  opposition  party  and  he  could  never  get 
over  it.  When  this  tall  man  of  insignificant  ap- 
pearance was  obliged  to  contradict  the  Chancellor 
or  his  collaborators,  there  were  always  tears  in  his 
shrill  voice.  His  prudent  words  and  roundabout 
phrases  revealed  his  geat  embarrassment.  His 
friends  called  him  skilful,  but  I  always  considered 
he  was  chiefly  timid — ^nay,  more,  a  coward. 

Spahn's  top  hat  was  the  subject  of  constant 
jokes  in  the  Reichstag.  As  soon  as  the  vice-pres- 
ident of  the  Centre  put  it  on,  it  was  known  that 
he  had  been  or  was  about  to  go  to  the  Wilhelm- 
strasse,  to  propose  to  the  Chancellor  one  of  those 
compromises  which  German  parliamentarians 
called,  in  their  far  from  elegant  language,  a 
Kuhhandel — a  cow-bargain.  The  sacrifice  of 
principles  in  exchange  for  personal  advantages 
or  concessions  favourable  to  the  party — it  was 
in  such  profitable  but  far  from  honourable  oper- 
ations as  that  that  Spahn  employed  all  his  mod- 
est ability.  The  independents  of  the  Centre  (and 
at  the  close  of  the  last  century  they  were  still 
numerous)  were  furious  at  what  they  considered 
were  acts  of  treason,  but  the  impenitent  negotia- 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  63 

tor  always  ended,  by  using  threats  and  supplica- 
tions, in  dominating  them. 

Spahn  was  afflicted  by  a  son  who  was  destined 
to  cause  him  the  greatest  trouble.  Martin  was 
intended  for  a  professorial  career,  and  aspired 
to  a  chair  in  history  at  a  university.  Outrage- 
ously ambitious,  he  had  long  sought  his  way.  He 
first  of  all  exhausted  himself  in  mediocre  publi- 
cations, in  which,  in  an  inflated  style,  without 
either  order  or  method,  he  lavished  his  second- 
hand erudition. 

Not  wishing  to  offend  anyone,  this  ludicrous 
fellow  spent  his  time  in  hypocritically  comment- 
ing on  his  former  wi'itings,  in  order  to  reply  to 
justified  criticisms.  If  need  be,  he  affirmed  with 
the  utmost  effrontery  that  the  phrases  with  which 
he  was  confronted  signified  the  opposite  of  what 
had  been  read  in  them.  A  lie  in  human  form, 
Martin  Spahn  always  deceived  his  friends  and 
foes  alike. 

Now,  because  he  called  himself  a  Catholic, 
whilst  sacrificing  all  his  beliefs  to  his  ambition, 
and  because,  on  the  other  hand,  his  books  had 
nothing  original  in  them  save  their  intentional 
vagueness,  the  young  historian  could  not  succeed 
in  obtaining  the  title  of  professor.  No  university 
would  have  anything  to  do  with  him. 

One  fine  morning,  the  vice-president    of    the 


64  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

Centre  put  on  his  best  frock-coat  and  top  hat  and 
went  to  call  upon  Prince  von  Biilow,  who,  as 
though  by  chance,  needed  the  support  of  the 
Centre  in  an  important  question.  When  Spahn 
left  the  Chancellor's  office  his  face  was  wreathed 
in  smiles.  A  few  days  later  an  Imperial  decree 
officially  appointed  Martin  Spahn  Professor  of 
History  at  the  University  of  Strassburg.  This 
intervention  of  the  Sovereign  was  contrary  to  all 
tradition,  since  no  professor  can  be  received  in 
a  German  university  without  the  consent  of  his 
future  colleagues.  Throughout  the  whole  of  in- 
tellectual Germany  there  was  a  formidable  rising 
in  arms  against  the  Chancellor  and  his  inspirer. 
Personal  at  first,  the  discussion  soon  became  theo- 
retical. The  V ormi  ssetzungslosigkheit — freedom 
from  prejudice — of  the  savants  caused  torrents  of 
ink  and  saliva  to  flow.  "Martin  Spahn  had  been 
appointed  to  Strassburg  because  he  was  a  Cath- 
olic. Science  had  no  knowledge  and  must  not 
have  any  knowledge  of  these  irrelevant  consid- 
erations," repeated  all  the  members  of  the  univer- 
sities and  their  friends  in  chorus.  The  debate  be- 
came so  envenomed  that  the  Chancellor  was  mo- 
mentarily threatened  with  a  crisis. 

Martin  Spahn  and  his  father  allowed  the  storm 
to  subside.  The  former,  installed  in  his  chair, 
hastened,  moreover,  to  give  pledges  to  his  oppo- 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  65 

nents  by  publishing  pamphlets  on  the  subject  of 
official  instruction  and  on  Pope  Leo  XIII,  which 
created  a  scandal  in  the  Catholic  world.  The 
odious  fellow  began  his  double  game  again  in 
order  to  assure  the  favours  of  all  parties.  At  the 
same  time  he  inaugurated  in  Alsace  that  hypo- 
critical and  cunning  policy  which  made  him  the 
plague  of  the  NationaHsts.  Never  did  an  intriguer 
of  low  degree  place  at  the  service  of  the  narrow- 
est Germanism  such  knavery  and  so  great  a  lack 
of  scruples.  Constantly  treated  with  scorn,  the 
ignoble  personage  immediately  resumed  his  un- 
derhand work  in  the  hope  of  succeeding  even 
then  in  imposing  himself  on  our  political  organ- 
isations. 

In  1906  he  found  a  German  constituency  will- 
ing to  offer  him  a  seat.  But  hardly  had  he  been 
elected  to  the  Reichstag  than  he  was  excluded 
from  the  group  of  the  Centre,  of  which  his  father 
was  vice-president.  Once  more  he  tried,  by  means 
of  denials  and  platitudes,  to  force  the  door  closed 
against  him.  But  he  succeeded  no  better  than 
he  had  done  in  Alsace-Lorraine  in  playing  the 
important  political  part  he  had  dreamed  of. 

Spahn  senior  had  a  colleague  at  the  Reichstag 
who  later  became  his  unfortunate  competitor  for 
the  presidency  of  the  Centre,  Baron  von  Hertling, 
Professor  of  Philosophy  at    the    University    of 


66  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

JMiinich.  Another  ambitious  man,  but  how  much 
more  intelligent,  more  subtle,  and  more  skilful 
than  he.  Hertling  succeeded  somewhat  late  in 
attaining  an  important  position,  since  for  the  past 
six  years  he  has  been  Prime  Minister  in  Bavaria. 
This  little  man,  who  is  an  admirable  speaker,  had 
succeeded,  at  the  time  he  belonged  to  the  Opposi- 
tion, in  getting  himself  entrusted  with  several  dip- 
lomatic missions  to  the  Vatican.  In  Rome  he  was 
held  in  great  esteem,  although  he  always  placed 
his  German  patriotism  before  his  religious  con- 
victions. He  it  was  who,  in  the  last  year  of  the 
pontificate  of  Leo  XIII,  obtained  from  the  Pope, 
weakened  by  age  and  illness,  the  establishment 
at  Strassburg  of  that  Catholic  theological  faculty 
which  was  chiefly  to  serve  the  purpose  of  German- 
ising our  young  clergy. 

Hertling's  speeches  were  always  much  appre- 
ciated in  the  Reichstag.  Their  academic  form, 
however,  badly  concealed  the  lack  of  courage  of 
an  orator  who  chiefly  sought  to  spare  the  Govern- 
ment. With  Lieber  and  Spahn,  Herthng  was 
one  of  the  principal  artisans  of  the  rally  of  the 
Centre  to  pan-Germanism.^  These  three  pontiffs 
of  the  intermediary  period  were  to  prepare  the 
way  for  Erzberger. 

^  Baron  von  Hertling  has  j  ust  succeeded  Herr  Miehaelis 
as  Chancellor  of  the  Empire. 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  67 

Groeber  was  and  has  remained  the  type  of  the 
honest  man.  A  judge  in  Wurtemberg,  he  was 
very  young  when  he  entered  prrliamentary  life, 
of  which  he  is  now  the  veteran.  There  is  a  strik- 
ing contrast  between  his  huge  width  of  back  and 
the  aknost  childish  naivete  of  his  mind.  Though 
of  superior  intelligence  and  inflexible  character, 
good  old  Groeber  has  never  understood  anything 
of  the  intrigues  of  which  he  was  the  victim,  and 
of  which  he  has  become  the  unconscious  accom- 
plice. Spahn  and  Hertling  have  employed  him  on 
the  most  suspicious  business.  With  the  most  per- 
fect good  faith,  he  has  followed  where  it  pleased 
them  to  lead  him.  He  has  served  as  a  screen  for 
the  over-skilful  leaders  of  the  Centre.  His  great 
conscientiousness  disguised  their  questionable  en- 
terprises. I  always  had  a  feeling  of  embarrass- 
ment and  pity  when  I  heard  Groeber,  in  his  strong 
bass  voice,  uphold  the  crafty  policy  of  his  friends. 
He  put  such  conviction  and  spirit  into  it. 

Many  a  time  have  I  walked  with  the  Wurtem- 
berg parliamentarian  along  the  alleys  of  the 
Thiergarten.  He  was  grieved  by  the  persecutions 
inflicted  upon  us  and  found  severe  words  to  con- 
demn them.  And  yet,  as  soon  as  the  diplomatists 
of  his  party  had  turned  him  round,  he  condemned 
with  equal  sincerity  from  the  tribune  our  spirit 
of  opposition. 


68  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

Groeber  never  consented  to  marriage.  He  fre- 
quented the  religious  services  assiduously,  and  the 
appearance  of  this  tall  bearded  man  edified  all 
the  faithful.  For  a  long  time  an  ultra-particu- 
larist,  he  passed,  after  1911,  into  the  army  of  the 
ultra-patriots. 

I  knew  another  turncoat  who  expended  less 
time  and  reflection  in  abjuring  his  brilhant  past. 
The  Abbé  Schaedler,  a  Bavarian,  who  had  the 
face  and  to  a  certain  extent  the  ability  of  Mira- 
beau, had  made  a  brilliant  début  in  his  country  as 
a  speaker  at  public  meetings.  In  those  days  Prus- 
sia had  no  more  redoubtable  adversary.  He  came 
several  times  to  Alsace-Lorraine  on  lecturing 
tours,  which  had  a  great  success,  because  this  Ger- 
man could  say  in  almost  revolutionary  language 
what  we  could  express  only  in  prudent  and  meas- 
ured terms. 

Schaedler  entered  the  Reichstag  when  very 
young.  There  he  immediately  attained  consider- 
able influence  in  his  party.  How  great  was  my 
surprise  when  I  saw  the  fierce  demagogue  trans- 
form himself  progressively  into  a  downright  sup- 
porter of  the  Government!  Backbiters  alleged 
that  Schaedler,  who  meanwhile  had  obtained  an 
important  canonry,  had  dreams  of  placing  a  mitre 
on  his  head.     But  he  died  before  obtaining  this 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  69 

reward  for  his  abdication,  which  was  none  the 
less  complete. 

What  disillusions  of  the  same  kind  we  Deputies 
for  Alsace-Lorraine  registered  during  the  years 
preceding  the  warl  Hitze,  Heim,  Gerstenberger 
— so  many  members  of  the  Centre,  who  formerly 
seemed  to  have  the  highest  comprehension  and 
keenest  sympathy  for  our  claims, — so  many  poli- 
ticians, either  weak  or  crafty,  who  were  to  betray 
us! 

I  fear  to  weary  the  reader  by  broadly  sketch- 
ing these  portraits  of  German  politicians.  Never- 
theless, it  seems  to  me  that  nothing  can  better 
enable  us  to  understand  the  transformation  which 
the  imperialism  of  Prince  von  Biilow  and  his 
successor  had  brought  about  in  the  mentality  of 
parliamentarians  of  all  parties.  People  abroad 
were  unable  to  follow  that  rapid  evolution.  Thence 
arose  the  stupid  confidence  in  which  the  rivals 
of  the  Empire  lived.  In  France  they  had  still 
faith  in  the  democracy  of  Richter,  in  the  social- 
ism of  old  Liebknecht,  and  in  the  strong  opposi- 
tion of  Windliorst,  whereas  Miiller-^Ieiningen, 
Frank,  and  Spahn  had  completely  overthrown 
the  traditions  of  the  national  representation  of 
Germany. 

However  that  may  be,  in  spite  of  certain  indi- 
vidual failings,  the  Reichstag  of  1898  was,  as  re- 


70  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

gards  the  Centre  and  the  Left,  that  is  to  say  the 
majority,  relatively  Liberal.  Was  it  particular- 
ist  in  the  same  measure?  Yes,  but  the  groups 
which  watched  jealously  over  the  autonomy  of  the 
States  did  so  for  different  reasons. 

In  fact  the  Prussian  Conservatives,  in  some 
other  ways  downright  reactionaries,  were  above  all 
anxious  to  preserve  the  great  kingdom  of  the  north 
from  the  contagion  of  southern  democracy.  They 
hoped,  doubtless,  that  the  Prussian  hegemony 
would  daily  spread  more  and  more  over  the 
States,  but  they  feared  that,  as  a  result,  the  broad- 
er and  more  popular  institutions  of  the  small  king- 
doms would  exercise  an  irresistible  attraction  over 
the  middle  classes  and  the  people  of  their  country. 
They  protested,  therefore,  with  the  greatest  en- 
ergy against  the  attempts  made  by  the  Reichstag 
to  take  part  in  the  retrograde  policy  of  Prussia. 
One  was  always  certain  of  their  help  when  one 
sought  to  limit  the  competence  of  the  Empire. 
In  conjunction  with  the  Centre  and  the  Demo- 
crats, the  Conservatives  formed  therefore  a  par- 
ticularist  coalition  in  which  the  autonomy  of  the 
States  benefited  until  the  time  when  the  adoption 
by  all  parties  of  the  pan-German  programme 
swept  away  all  the  old  combinations. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  National-Liberals  made 
no  mystery  of  their  centralising  tendencies,  and 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  71 

the  group  of  the  Extreme  Left  seconded  them 
vigorously  in  that  campaign. 

The  Socialists,  esj)ecially  at  the  time  when  they 
still  believed  in  the  drawing  near  of  the  "great 
evening,"  strove  by  every  means  in  their  power 
to  destroy  the  federal  character  of  the  Empire. 

Bebel  one  day,  in  one  of  his  fits  of  brutal  frank- 
ness, made  the  following  declaration  to  me  : 

"It  was  easy  for  you  others,  Frenchmen,  to 
bring  about  your  revolution.  You  had  only  one 
head  to  cut  off.  With  us  we  should  be  obliged  to 
cut  off  twenty-five." 

Nothing  is  truer.  In  the  southern  States  the 
dynasties  are  very  popular.  The  King  of  Bavaria, 
for  instance,  who  walks  about  alone  in  the  streets 
of  Munich  and  converses  familiarly  with  the  most 
humble  passers-by,  has  nothing  to  fear  from  the 
personal  hostility  of  his  subjects.  Moreover,  as 
in  the  neighbouring  States  (Wurtemberg,  Grand 
Duchy  of  Baden,  Hesse),  the  Bavarian  Lower 
Chamber  is  elected  by  universal  and  secret  suf- 
frage. The  southerners  are  unacquainted  with 
the  régime  of  privileged  castes.  There  is  there- 
fore no  reason  for,  and  no  possibility  of,  the  party 
of  the  Extreme  Left  springing  upon  these  coun- 
tries a  revolution,  which,  on  the  other  hand,  would 
be  perfectly  justified  in  Prussia  and  in  Saxony. 

It  resulted  from  this,  that  at  the  time  when  the 


72  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

Socialists  were  still  frankly  Republican  they  must 
have  wished  to  unify  Germany,  that  is  to  say  first 
of  all  to  limit  and  then  to  suppress  the  autonomy 
of  the  States,  in  order  to  succeed  more  easily  and 
at  a  single  stroke  in  changing  the  form  of  the 
central  government.  It  was  necessary  to  place 
all  the  German  crowns  on  a  single  head,  to  use 
Bebel's  image,  in  order  to  be  able  to  make  them 
fall  together  by  a  single  blow  of  the  axe. 

It  is  needless  to  add  that  the  Socialists  of  to-day 
have  abandoned  these  intransigent  tactics.  Since 
Frank  was  received  at  the  Court  of  the  Grand 
Duke  of  Baden  and  the  Bavarian  companions 
voted  the  private  budget  of  the  kingdom,  the  Uni- 
tarists  formed  but  a  group  without  influence  in 
the  Reichstag. 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  73 


CHAPTER  IV 

Pen  Portraits  of  Parliamentarians 

The  Three  Great  Leaders  of  Doctrinal  Socialism — Figures 
in  the  Second  Rank — The  Polish  Group — Miiller-Fulda 
— Comrades — Parliamentary  Barriers — Count  von  Bal- 
lestrem — Official  Fêtes. 

The  forty  members  of  the  Extreme  Left  whom 
I  fomid  at  Berlin  in  1898  were  still  by  an  over- 
whelming majority  revolutionaries.  Rebel  was 
then  at  the  height  of  his  ability.  An  ex -joiner, 
the  most  brilliant  leader  of  Germanic  Socialism 
had,  by  obstinate  work,  acquired  a  varied  knowl- 
edge, and  as,  moreover,  he  possessed  all  the  natur- 
al gifts  of  an  orator,  he  exercised  a  veritable  dic- 
tatorship over  his  party.  The  faithful  guardian 
of  the  Marxist  doctrine,  practically  all  the  articles 
of  which  he  sacrificed  later,  on  becoming  rich  and 
eccentric,  he  overwhelmed  with  his  anathemas  all 
those  who  dared  to  contradict  him.  At  that  time 
Bernstein,  already  a  Possibilist,  passed  for  a 
heretic  and  was  treated  with  the  utmost  severity 
at  the  party  congi-esses. 

Bebel  was  a  small-statured  man,  thin,  sinewy. 


74  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

and  with  a  leonine  face.  He  appeared  to  be  in 
a  state  of  perpetual  ebullition.  His  passionate 
speech  and  cutting  gestures  still  further  accentu- 
ated the  perpetually  aggressive  character  of  his 
appearance.  Standing  in  the  tribune  with  out- 
stretched arm  and  his  threatening  finger  pro- 
longed by  the  pencil  which  he  always  held  in  his 
hand,  he  delivered  a[;ainst  middle-class  society 
speeches  as  interminable  as  they  were  passionate, 
and,  although  his  shrill  voice  was  in  no  way  agree- 
able, he  put  such  vigour  into  what  he  was  saying 
that  he  was  always  listened  to  with  sustained  in- 
terest. 

Quite  different  was  Liebknecht  senior,  the 
father  of  the  Deputy  who  has  been  so  much  talked 
about  since  the  beginning  of  the  war.  A  former 
student  of  Protestant  theology,  he  had  retained 
a  modest  attitude,  a  mild  voice,  and  unctuous 
gestures.  The  contrast  between  the  violence  of 
his  remarks  and  the  almost  bland  voice  in  which 
he  uttered  them  was  striking.  He  was  indeed 
the  patriarch  blessing  a  doctrine  of  which  Bebel 
was  determined  to  remain  the  demagogue. 

At  that  time  we  occupied,  with  the  Poles,  in 
the  gallery  of  the  Extreme  Left,  the  seats  placed 
above  those  of  the  Socialists.  Liebknecht,  who 
had  taken  a  liking  to  me,  used  often  to  come  and 
have  a  conversation.     He  had  the  temperament 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  75 

of  an  apostle.  I  have  retained  an  excellent  recol- 
lection of  our  always  courteous  discussions. 

I  will  record  but  two  characteristic  phrases  of 
the  old  Socialist. 

"I  have  lost  all  religious  faith;  but  if  I  became 
a  believer  again,  I  should  go  the  whole  hog  and 
become  a  Catholic." 

"Here,  in  the  Reichstag,  there  are  but  two 
classes  of  members  who  are  sincerely  sympathetic 
towards  and  active  on  behalf  of  the  working- 
classes:  the  Socialists  and  the  priests." 

Singer,  the  third  leader  of  the  group  of  the 
Extreme  Left,  was  quite  a  different  man.  This 
stout  personage,  with  coarse,  vulgar  features  and 
thick  voice,  was  chieflj^  distinguished  for  his  smil- 
ing scepticism.  An  ex-manufacturer,  to  whom 
some  people — doubtless  wrongly — ascribed  sav- 
age behaviour  towards  his  young  work-girls,  he 
had  joined  somewhat  late  a  party  which  knew 
how  to  profit  largely,  if  not  by  his  eloquence,  at 
least  by  his  marvellous  ability  as  an  organiser. 

As  president  of  the  group,  the  diplomatist 
Singer  calmed  all  storms,  and  always  found  for- 
mulas for  compromises  between  Doctrinaires  and 
Revisionists.  One  never  knew  to  which  side  his 
preference  leaned.  Perhaps  he  himself  did  not 
know.  None  the  less,  by  that  very  fact  he  ren- 
dered signal  services  to  his  party,  in  which  rival- 


76  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

ries  were  so  numerous  and  discussions  so  bitter. 

In  private  intercourse  Singer  was  very  agree- 
able. There  was  no  trace  in  him  of  the  fiery 
polemist  whose  conversation  always  retains  an  ag- 
gressive note.  He  it  was  who,  every  time  nego- 
tiations with  the  other  leaders  of  the  group  were 
necessary,  undertook  that  delicate  task.  Singer, 
who  was  a  Jew,  had  a  very  pronounced  Semitic 
face. 

Bernstein,  also  a  Jew,  was  more  delicate  in 
appearance  and  in  nature.  His  accentuated  but 
very  delicate  features,  his  little,  malicious  eyes 
and  studied  speech  advantageously  distinguished 
him  from  the  vulgar  agitators  who  encumbered 
his  party.  He  often  related  to  me  the  vicissitudes 
of  his  adventurous  life,  his  condemnations  and 
long  exile,  in  the  course  of  which  he  spent  several 
months  at  the  house  of  an  honest  Italian  priest. 
From  his  obligatory  travels  abroad  he  had  re- 
turned a  polyglot  and  a  Possibilist.  In  1898  his 
colleagues  regarded  him  with  suspicion  on  account 
of  his  moderate  opinions.  At  each  congress  of 
the  party  the  ultras  demanded  his  expulsion.  To- 
day Bernstein  is  considered  to  be  one  of  the  most 
dangerous  revolutionaries  of  German  Socialism. 
He  has,  however,  changed  nothing,  neither  in  his 
programme  nor  in  his  tactics,  which  were  always 
the  same.    Nothing  can  inform  us  better  regard- 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  77 

ing  the  complete  evolution  of  the  Parliamentary 
group  of  the  Extreme  Left. 

To  complete  my  little  portrait  gallery,  I  shall 
say  a  few  more  words  about  three  men  who  at 
that  time  played  an  important  part  in  the  Reichs- 
tag: Rickert,  Stoecker,  and  Arendt. 

The  first  named — "Handsome  Henry"  as  he 
was  called  in  the  lobbies — had  long  vied  with  Eu- 
gen  Richter  for  the  leadership  of  the  Democratic 
Party.  Not  having  succeeded  in  eliminating  his 
rival,  he  broke  away  from  him  with  ten  of  his 
colleagues,  who  formed  a  new  group  that  was 
almost  as  governmental  as  the  National  Liberals. 
Little  attention  was  paid  to  the  speeches  of  this 
vain  but  characterless  man. 

Stoecker,  the  former  Court  preacher,  had  a 
more  accentuated  physiognomy.  Very  particu- 
lar about  his  personal  appearance  and  an  admir- 
able speaker,  the  chief  of  the  anti-Semitic  group 
was  one  of  the  most  attentively  hstened  to  of  the 
orators  of  the  Reichstag.  An  amiable  colleague, 
he  had  many  personal  friends  in  the  Reichstag, 
not  only  in  the  Conservative  groups,  with  which 
he  lived  on  neighbourly  terms,  but  also  in  the 
other  parliamentary  groups.  I  have  had  many 
political  and  religious  discussions  with  him.  He 
excelled  in  them,  both  on  account  of  the  wealth 
of  his  knowledge  and  because  of  the  pleasing 


78  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

courtesy  of  his  argumentation.  Stoecker  was, 
however,  an  almost  ferocious  Imperialist  and  had 
sworn  against  the  Jews  a  hatred  of  disconcerting 
intensity. 

On  this  subject,  I  would  point  out  that  the 
anti-Semitism  of  the  Prussian  Conservatives  knew 
no  compromise.  In  the  eyes  of  the  Junker,  the 
Jew  is  and  remains  the  most  redoubtable  enemy. 
I  have  always  been  struck  by  the  extreme  violence 
of  these  religious  prejudices.  The  Socialist 
Party  was  the  only  one  which  counted  Jews 
among  its  members. 

Although  only  recently  converted  to  Christi- 
anity, the  joyous  Arendt  had,  however,  succeeded 
in  entering  the  group  of  the  Independent  Con- 
servatives, of  which  he  was  one  of  the  most  fluent 
speakers.  This  man,  who  had  the  appearance  of 
a  tobacco  jar  perched  on  two  match-stalks  and 
surmounted  by  a  deformed  lemon,  had  a  specialty. 
A  convinced  bimetallist,  he  treated  us  every  year 
to  two  or  three  interminable  speeches,  in  order  to 
convince  us  of  the  necessity  of  reclassing  silver 
among  the  metals  with  invariable  conventional 
value. 

Arendt,  who  was  constantly  the  target  for  the 
gibes  of  the  parties  of  the  Left,  provoked  these 
retorts  by  his  impudently  aggressive  eloquence. 
The  unfortunate  man  had  formerly  had  a  strange 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  79 

misadventure.  After  having  married  a  bad-dis- 
positioned  dressmaker,  he  decided  to  divorce  her. 
Xow,  the  day  after  the  judgment,  his  wife  stood 
at  the  members'  exit  and  distributed  to  them  little 
business  cards  bearing  the  words,  "Mme.  Arendt 
recommends  her  dressmaking  establishment  to  the 
wives  of  her  husband's  colleagues."  Fortunately 
for  the  Conservative  meml)er,  ridicule  does  not 
yet  kill  in  Germany. 

The  Polish  members  were  our  neighbours  in 
1898.  They  continued  to  be  when,  after  the  for- 
midable increase  in  the  number  of  Socialist  seats, 
they  made  us  emigrate,  whilst  still  reserving  for 
us  "the  topmost  benches,"  next  to  the  Extreme 
Right.  They  were  all  gentlemen  and  agreeable 
in  intercourse,  but  how  unstable  and  unreliable! 

I  have  seen  them  pass  from  the  most  revolu- 
tionary opposition  to  the  most  tangled  govern- 
mentalism,  and  that  from  one  moment  to  another, 
without  apparent  motive.  One  day  they  would 
threaten  to  place  bombs  under  the  Chancellor's 
chair;  the  next  they  would  enthusiastically  vote 
in  favour  of  reactionary  laws.  The  prelate 
Jadzewski,  one  of  their  most  respected  leaders, 
was  constantly  exhibiting  these  disconcerting 
changes  of  humour.  One  could  never  absolutely 
count  on  the  assistance  of  these  inconstant  fel- 
lows.    My  friend    Count    Bratowo-Mielzienski, 


80  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

who  since  then  was  the  central  figure  in  a  cele- 
brated trial,  after  having  surprised  his  wife  in 
criminal  conversation  with  one  of  his  nephews  and 
killed  the  guilty  couple  with  gunshots,  was  quite 
as  changeable.  Sometimes  he  complacently  re- 
lated that  the  Emperor  formerly  called  him  "his 
little  grenadier."  Then  he  would  display  the  most 
anti-dynastic  feelings.  One  day  he  confided  to 
me  that,  having  been  received  in  a  mihtary  club 
in  the  South  of  France,  he  had  boxed  the  ears  of 
an  officer  who  was  making  pacifist  remarks.  Now 
I  learn  that,  though  relieved  from  military  serv- 
ice on  account  of  his  age,  he  voluntarily  enHsted 
at  the  beginning  of  the  war  in  order  to  fight 
against  the  Allies  whom  he  pretended  he  loved 
so  much. 

Another  and  more  painful  surprise  was  reserved 
for  me.  The  president  of  the  Polish  group, 
Prince  Radziwill,  was  by  far  the  most  respectable 
figure  in  the  Imperial  Parliament.  When  this 
fine  old  man  mounted  the  tribune  to  speak  of 
the  misfortunes  of  his  country  it  seemed  as  though 
the  whole  of  martyred  Poland  was  weeping  in  his 
touching  words.  Even  the  Right  respected  a  sor- 
row so  nobly  expressed.  Alas!  we  have  recently 
learnt  from  the  newspapers  that  Prince  Radziwill 
has  consented  to  become  the  Prime  Minister  of 
the  new  Kingdom  of  Poland,  and  that  he  has 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  81 

expressed  his  deepest  gratitude  to  persecuting 
Prussia  for  the  creation  of  this  phantom  State. 

Clearly,  that  ought  not  to  prevent  us  from 
continuing  to  show  all  our  sympathy  towards  a 
nation  that  has  suffered  so  much  and  so  long.  But 
how  long  a  time  it  will  take  the  Poles,  at  least 
the  governing  classes,  to  recover  themselves,  to 
think  and  to  act  logically  and  in  a  manly  way! 

Yet  the  Prussian  Government  always  reserved 
its  bitterest  hatred  for  the  natives  of  the  "Eastern 
Marches."  It  would  take  too  long  to  recall  here 
the  odious  measures  of  which  the  Poles  were  the 
victims  :  the  700  million  marks  which  the  Landtag 
voted  for  the  "colonisation"  of  Posen  by  German 
peasants,  the  interdiction  to  use  the  Polish  lan- 
guage in  the  schools  and  for  correspondence,  the 
forbidding  of  Poles  to  construct  houses  on  their 
lands,  and,  finally,  dispossession.  It  was  Prince 
von  Biilow,  that  so-called  gentleman,  whose  ap- 
parent courtesy  ill  conceals  his  savage  chauvinism, 
who,  despite  the  opposition  of  Prussian  Conserva- 
tives, had  voted  by  Parliament  that  Bill  of  dis- 
possession for  national  suspicion  which  represents 
the  most  abominable  wrong  against  the  rights  of 
property  in  modem  times. 

The  fourth  Chancellor  of  the  Empire — we  can- 
not too  often  repeat  the  fact — was,  of  all  German 
statesmen,  the  one  who,  from  the  national  point 


82  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

of  view,  showed  the  least  scruple.  Has  he  not 
cynically  confessed  in  his  Memoirs  that  he  knew 
how  to  make  use  of  the  martyrdom  of  Poland  to 
attach,  by  bonds  of  complicity,  Muscovite  Tsar- 
ism  to  German  Imperialism? 

"It  is  precisely  these  Polish  affairs,"  he  writes, 
"which  have  often  united  Prussia  and  Russia.  In 
the  Polish  danger  there  is  a  warning  to  the  two 
Empires  not  to  fall  out,  but  to  regard  their  com- 
mon defence  against  the  ambitious  aspirations  of 
the  Poles  as  a  bridge  on  which  Prussia  and  Rus- 
sia can  always  meet." 

Prussian  duplicity  in  its  entirety  is  revealed  in 
these  phrases,  written  but  a  few  months  before 
the  war.  And  to  think  that  Prince  Radziwill  and 
his  colleagues  in  the  Reichstag  had  read  Prince 
von  Billow's  declarations  when  they  made  their 
last  and  most  surprising  evolution! 

How  right  Korfantry  was  not  to  wish  to  be 
confounded  with  these  puppets!  The  young  Po- 
lish Deputy  (he  belonged  to  the  Reichstag  during 
only  two  legislatures)  passed  for  a  revolutionary. 
This  tall,  fair  young  man  with  ungainly  carriage 
and  sonorous  voice  was,  however,  very  moderate 
in  his  opinions.  On  the  other  hand,  he  knew  noth- 
ing of  Jadzewski's  clever  bargainings  and  contra- 
dictory attitudes,  and  he  expressed  his  surprise 
and  disgust  at  them  in  stinging  terms.    Thence  his 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  83 

troubles.  He  was  wrongly  accused  of  being  sym- 
pathetic towards  Socialism.  He  was  simply  de- 
fending the  interests  of  a  nation  with  whose  suf- 
ferings he  was  acquainted  against  the  weakness 
of  a  nobility  whose  egoism  shocked  him. 

I  have  yet  to  speak  of  a  man  who,  although  his 
name  has  rarely  appeared  in  the  newspapers,  was 
one  of  the  prime  movers  of  the  Imperial  Parlia- 
ment— IMiiller-Fulda,  a  member  of  the  Centre. 
This  tall,  skinny  fellow,  with  sparse  beard  and 
mocking  eye,  had  the  appearance  of  a  faun.  The 
son  of  a  small  manufacturer,  he  went  abroad  when 
fifteen  years  of  age  to  study  the  manufacturing 
processes  and  commercial  methods  of  the  English 
and  French.  When  quite  young,  he  then  became 
the  manager  of  a  carpet  factory  and  rapidly  grew 
rich.  When  the  electors  of  Fulda  sent  him  to 
the  Reichstag  they  made  a  particularly  happy 
choice,  for  Miiller  was  an  accomplished  man  of 
business. 

Politics  interested  him,  however,  only  as  a 
puppet-show.  Like  a  child,  he  amused  himself 
in  the  lobbies  with  combinations,  which  he  en- 
deavoured to  complicate  for  the  simple  pleasure 
of  doing  so.  Only  economic  questions  retained 
his  attention.  For  the  others  he  had  nothing  save 
mischievous  smiles. 

On  my  arrival  in  Berlin,  I  had  put  up  at  the 


84  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

Central  Hotel.  Miiller-Fulda  had  also  made  it  his 
headquarters.  He  took  upon  himself  to  see  to 
my  Parliamentary  education.  I  took  my  break- 
fast with  him  every  morning;  then,  together,  we 
proceeded  to  the  Reichstag,  where  we  were  gen- 
erally the  first  to  enter  the  writing-room.  He 
applied  himself  to  shattering  my  last  illusions 
regarding  the  German  Parliamentary  régime, 

"Above  all,"  he  said  to  me,  "attach  no  impor- 
tance to  the  noisy  declarations  and  tragic  gestures 
of  speakers  on  the  occasion  of  the  first  reading  of 
a  Bill.  All  the  work  of  the  Reichstag  is  done 
behind  the  scenes.  Our  party  leaders  are  augurs 
who  have  learnt  to  look  at  each  other  in  public 
assembly  without  laughing;  but,  surrounded  by 
the  mystery  of  their  private  confabs,  they  are 
hand  and  glove  together.  I  know  it  because  I'm 
one  of  them.  Everything  is  compromise  with  us. 
We  set  up  a  noisy  opposition  only  to  obtain  privi- 
leges. The  Chancellor  plays  upon  his  winnings 
with  parties  which  are  quarrelling  over  his  fa- 
vours, and  with  leaders  who  are  always  ready 
to  sell  themselves.  If  you  are  wise,  you  Alsace- 
Lorrainers,  you  will  obtain  everything  you  want. 
Be  awkward  in  public,  but  know  how  to  fix  a  price 
afterwards  for  your  assistance.  And,  above  all, 
don't  be  simpletons.  The  Reichstag  is  composed 
of  three  dozen  skilful  and  clever  men  and  three 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  85 

hundred  and  fifty  idiots,  who  are  indifferent  to 
the  progress  of  business.  Our  leaders  endeavour 
to  surround  themselves  only  with  mediocrities,  in 
order  to  be  sure  of  having  no  rivals.  The  fewer 
members  there  are  in  Berlin,  the  happier  they 
are,  since  that  enables  them  to  devote  themselves 
to  their  little  manœuvres  far  from  all  control.  All 
are  in  continuous  relations  with  the  Wilhelm- 
strasse,  which  knows  their  ambitions  and  how  to 
play  with  them  skilfully.  People  abroad  believe 
that  we  possess  a  national  representation.  But 
we  have  only  a  handful  of  operetta  conspirators, 
whom  an  enlightened  stage-manager  directs  as  he 
thinks  fit.  With  us,  such  big  words  as  ministerial 
responsibility,  liberty,  and  democracy  have  no 
meaning.  Heydebrandt  fiercely  mounts  guard 
over  Conservative  privileges.  Bassermann  and 
Spahn  envy  him  and  would  have  their  share  of 
the  cake.  Richter  and  Bebel  are  listened  to;  but 
nobody,  not  even  the  simple  soldiers  of  their  party, 
follows  them  when  they  try  to  provoke  reaction 
in  the  masses,  and  they  are  too  intelligent  not  to 
see  it.  We  are  a  nation  of  valets  and  slaves, 
whose  mind  has  been  prepared  for  all  forms  of 
servitude  by  intellectuals,  domesticated  and  above 
all  greedy  for  honours  and  distinctions.  Every- 
thing is  foolish  verbosity  in  our  Parliamentary 
struggles.     Don't  listen  to  speeches,  which  will 


86  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

make  you  believe  there  is  a  conscious  and  deter- 
mined opposition.  Rather  observe  the  secret 
meetings  of  the  party  leaders  among  themselves 
and  with  the  collaborators  of  the  Chancellor.  It's 
there  that  the  practical  work  is  done." 

Miiller-Fulda  was  right.  After  having  freely 
insulted  each  other  from  the  tribune,  Heyde- 
brandt,  Bassermann,  Spahn,  Hertling,  and  all  the 
other  holders  of  leading  parts  in  Parliament  as- 
sembled in  the  committee-rooms,  or  walked  in 
friendly  intercourse  about  the  lobbies,  and  from 
these  long  and  mysterious  conversations  there  al- 
most always  sprang  compromises  in  which  the 
Chrincellor  had  collaborated.  The  three  readings 
of  an  important  Bill  always  gave  us  the  same 
chromatic  scale.  First  reading:  furious  declara- 
tions and  the  solemn  announcement  of  an  opposi- 
tion that  nothing  would  shatter.  Second  read- 
ing: a  scattered  retreat  on  a  barely  modified  text, 
but  with  a  few  noisy  counter-attacks.  Third  read- 
ing :  a  perfect  understanding,  general  embracings, 
reciprocal  congratulations,  and  unanimous  ap- 
plause. 

Here  is  one  of  a  hundred  examples.  When 
William  II  determined  to  devote  himself  heart 
and  soul  to  world-politics  (it  was  in  1901)  it  was 
decided  to  double  the  navy.  This  plan  of  re- 
modelling the  fleet,  which  was  to  be  terminated  in 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  87 

1916,  included  the  creation  of  a  squadron  of  big 
ironclads,  in  addition  to  six  guardships  and  com- 
plementary units. 

When  the  Bill  appeared,  there  was  a  tremen- 
dous uproar  in  the  whole  of  the  Press  of  the  Centre 
and  Left.  They  were  about  to  fall  out  with 
England,  definitely  compromise  the  finances  of 
the  Empire,  weaken  the  army,  and  increase  the 
load  of  taxation.  The  English,  moveover,  would 
never  permit  Germany  to  recover  the  formidable 
advance  they  had  made  and  which  they  would  be 
mad  not  to  wish  to  maintain.  And  the  refrain  of 
all  these  articles,  in  which  the  opponents  developed 
their  arguments  with  extraordinary  violence,  was 
always  the  same,  "Not  a  pfennig  for  this  wild 
enterprise." 

Miiller-Fulda  was  as  amused  as  a  little  madcap 
over  all  this  incendiary  literature,  and  still  more 
so  when  he  saw  me  devote  serious  attention  to 
it.  One  morning,  whilst  we  were  having  our  coffee 
together,  he  confided  in  me  as  follows  : 

"My  poor  Wetterlé,  you  are  really  too  simple. 
All  this  is  but  a  sudden  blaze.  From  this  very 
moment  the  Chancellor  is  sure  of  obtaining  all  he 
wants,  and  even  more.  The  compromise  has  been 
accepted  by  all  the  bourgeois  gi-oups.  Tirpitz  is 
sacrificing  the  guardships,  of  which  he  has  no 
need,  and  which  he  only  put  down  on  his  pro- 


88  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

gramme  in  order  to  have  the  air  of  making  a 
concession  to  the  Opposition.  As  to  the  squadron 
of  ironclads,  the  complementary  ships,  and  the 
replacing  of  out-of-date  boats  by  more  modern  and 
more  powerful  units,  they  will  grant  him  them  by 
an  overwhelming  majority.  A  formal  promise  has 
been  given  him  by  the  party  leaders." 

This  time  I  thought  that  Miiller-Fulda  was 
making  fun  of  me.  With  such  a  devil  of  a  man 
you  never  knew  where  you  were.  And,  indeed, 
it  looked,  at  first,  as  though  my  distrust  was  justi- 
fied, for  during  several  weeks  the  deafening  up- 
roar continued  in  the  Press,  and,  at  the  time  of  the 
first  reading  of  the  Bill,  the  speakers  of  the  Centre 
and  the  Left  seemed  to  wish  to  increase  it  still 
further  by  their  fiery  declarations. 

The  second  act  of  the  comedy,  the  scenario  of 
which  Millier  had  complacently  related  to  me  be- 
forehand, took  place  at  a  secret  meeting  of  the 
Budget  Committee.  All  Parliamentary  repre- 
sentatives may  attend  these  secret  meetings.  The 
chairman  confines  himself  to  recalling  the  fact 
that  they  are  placed  on  their  honour  to  reveal 
nothing  of  what  they  hear  to  the  newspapers. 
There  was,  therefore,  a  crowd  in  the  committee- 
room.  I  was  there.  The  discussion  was  at  first 
harsh  and  violent.     Admiral  Tirpitz  vigorously 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  89 

defended  his  plan  ;  but  they  hardly  listened  to  his 
technical  developments.  All  eyes  were  fixed  on 
Prince  von  Biilow,  then  Secretary  of  State  at  the 
Foreign  Office,  who  seemed  to  bear  on  his  broad 
shoulders  the  weight  of  an  overwhelming  secret. 
The  proceedings  had  dragged  out  for  two  hours 
when  Prince  von  Biilow  asked  to  speak.  His 
speech  was  very  short.  Delivered  in  a  low,  eager 
voice,  with  intentional  slowness  and  restrained 
emotion,  it  may  be  summed  up  in  these  few  words  : 

"Take  care  I-— the  whole  future  of  the  Empire  is 
at  stake.  The  confession  is  hard  to  make,  but  it 
must  be  made,  in  order  to  overcome  your  thought- 
less resistance.  War  with  England  is  not  only  a 
possibility,  it  is  probable  .  .  .  and  near.  Is  it 
your  desire,  in  the  face  of  this  urgent  danger,  that 
we  should  be  completely  disarmed?" 

Dead  silence  followed  these  declarations  of  the 
prudent  diplomatist.  The  Committee  broke  up. 
Anxiety  could  be  read  on  every  face.  During  the 
plenary  sitting,  the  members,  forming  little  ani- 
mated groups,  discussed  with  bated  breath,  in  the 
lobbies,  the  terrible  declarations  of  Prince  von 
Biilow.  A  large  number  of  naval  officers  were, 
as  though  by  chance,  in  the  large  outer  hall.  These 
were  buttonholed  and  questioned  regarding  the 
danger  of  British   aggression,  whereupon  they 


90  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

complacently  drew  wild  comparisons  between  the 
two  navies/ 

The  next  day  the  tone  of  the  newspapers  had 
completely  changed.  Almost  without  transition, 
the  Press  of  the  Centre  and  the  Left  admitted  the 
necessity  for  increasing  the  fighting  units,  and 
concentrated  its  rearguard  cannonade  on  the  un- 
fortunate guardships,  which  Tirpitz  did  not  want 
for  the  time  being,  because  the  naval  yards  could 
not  have  built  them  at  the  same  time  as  the 
squadron  of  big  ironclads. 

"Well,"  said  Miiller-Fulda  to  me,  after  glanc- 
ing through  the  morning  papers,  "will  you  believe 
me  another  time  when  I  tell  you  that  everything  is 
trickery  and  deceit  in  our  parliamentary  life?" 

The  Bill,  indeed,  was  passed  by  an  overwhelm- 
ing majority  at  its  second  and  third  readings. 
Tirpitz  shed  a  crocodile  tear  over  the  six  boats 
refused  him — and  the  trick  was  played.  As  to  the 
German  people,  it  had  been  unable  to  make  out  a 
thing.  Once  more  its  "representatives"  had 
grossly  deceived  it. 

Ought  we  to  be  surprised  at  this?  No;  because 
the  atmosphere  of  the  old  Reichstag  was  naturally 
debilitating.    As  I  have  said  above,  barely  sixty 

^  Large  charts  indicating  the  comparative  strengths  of  all 
the  navies  of  the  world  were  hung  at  this  time  in  the  lobbies 
of  the  Reichstag.     They  were  signed:  Wilhelm  I.h. 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  91 

representatives  regularly  attended  the  sittings. 
Among  these  initiates,  who  belonged  to  the  big 
committees,  bonds  of  great  intimacy  had  of  in- 
evitable necessity  been  established.  In  the  eyes  of 
these  conspirators,  the  people  no  longer  existed. 
All  their  cerebral  activity  was  used  up  in  the 
game  of  interfractional  combinations.  Once  they 
had  crossed  the  threshold  of  their  palace,  they 
thought  only  of  their  petty  rivalries  and  ambitions. 
Collaboration  with  the  Chancellor  and  his  Secre- 
taries of  State  became  a  sort  of  friendly  game  at 
chess  at  a  private  club.  They  settled  their  ac- 
counts among  themselves,  without  troubling  their 
heads  over  what  the  '  great  public  might  think. 
Besides,  did  this  public  exist?  Had  it  an  opinion 
of  its  own?  Could  they  not  always,  by  the  skilful 
use  of  a  Press  which  blindly  accepted  their  orders, 
lead  it  to  burn  to-day  what  it  had  worshipped  yes- 
terday ? 

In  all  Parliaments  personal  relations  among 
members  sometimes  produce  strange  reconcilia- 
tions. At  Berlin  these  were  the  rule,  at  least 
among  party  leaders.  The  pride  that  a  little 
official,  like  Miiller-IMeiningen,  feels  in  being  able 
to  chat  familiarly  with  the  Chancellor  and  the 
leading  officials  of  the  Empire,  the  vanity  that  a 
Spahn,  of  middle-class  origin,  experiences  on  be- 
ing treated  as  a  friend  by  the  least  approachable 


92  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

of  the  Junker  caste,  the  fear  of  conflicts  which  in 
the  past  always  ended  to  the  advantage  of  the 
Government,  are  so  many  factors  which  do  not 
count  in  democratic  countries,  but  which  in  the 
Reichstag  provoke  the  worst  weaknesses. 

The  small  fry  among  the  representatives — those 
who  were  fated  merely  to  line  the  walls — do  not 
enjoy  the  same  privileges  as  the  chairmen  and 
members  of  the  committees  of  the  Parliamentary 
fractions.  They  never  have  the  honour  of  speak- 
ing either  to  the  members  of  the  Government  or 
to  those  of  the  Federal  Council.  They  are  penned 
up  as  insignificant.  I  shall  always  recollect  with 
pleasure  the  stupefaction  of  these  poor  sheepish 
beings  and  the  indignation  of  their  shepherds 
when,  during  a  plenary  sitting,  I  mounted  to 
the  podium,  where  the  Chancellor  and  his  collabo- 
rators were,  to  converse  with  them  about  a  current 
topic.    My  audacity  seemed  scandalous  to  them. 

When  I  first  entered  the  Reichstag,  one  of  the 
leaders  of  the  Centre  thought  fit  to  make  me 
acquainted  with  the  traditions  of  the  House.  "You 
must  have  personal  relations,"  he  said,  "only  with 
your  political  friends.  Only  the  party  leaders 
negotiate  with  the  Government  and  the  members 
of  the  other  groups." 

I  respectfully  pointed  out  to  Herr  Groeber  (for 
it  was  he  who  gave  me  that  strange  advice)  that. 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  93 

as  I  belonged  to  no  fraction,  I  intended  to  retain 
my  entire  liberty,  and  that  I  was  determined  to 
make  what  use  of  it  I  pleased.  And,  indeed, 
during  the  sixteen  years  I  was  in  the  Reichstag, 
I  frequented  indifferently  my  colleagues  of  all 
parties,  to  the  great  indignation  of  the  members 
of  the  Centre,  who  thought  they  had  the  right  to 
control  the  Alsace-Lorraine  representatives,  be- 
cause, in  religious  and  social  questions,  our  votes 
generally  counted  with  theirs. 

There  are  barriers  between  the  Parliamentary 
groups  which  the  party  leaders  can  alone  sur- 
mount. For  instance,  in  the  Reichstag  restaurant 
each  party  has  its  regularly  appointed  table.  The 
Conservatives  and  the  members  of  the  Govern- 
ment even  occupy  a  special  room,  which  custom 
forbade  us  to  enter.  The  table  reserved  for  the 
representatives  of  Alsace-Lorraine  and  the  Poles 
was  between  that  of  the  National-Liberals  and  that 
of  the  Centre.  It  was  called  the  corner  of  "the 
enemies  of  the  Empire."  Sometimes  a  member  of 
the  Centre  invited  us  to  sit  near  him,  but  that 
was  always  exceptional.  I  had  thus  the  honour, 
on  several  occasions,  of  lunching  with  Count  von 
Ballestrem,  who  at  that  time  was  President  of 
the  Reichstag. 

A  wealthy  mine-owner,  belonging  to  the  old 
Silesian  nobihty.  Count  von  Ballestrem  was  an 


94  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

amiable  man,  possessed  of  great  skill.  Every 
time  the  proceedings  became  stormy  he  knew  how 
to  tranquillise  the  members'  passions  by  a  cordial 
or  witty  intervention.  He  was  not  appreciated 
at  his  just  value  until  replaced  by  Count  von  Stoll- 
berg-Wernigerode  and  later  by  the  Democrat 
Kaempf,  who  were  both  powerless  to  master  the 
assembly. 

Count  von  Ballestrem  ^owed  great  ability  in 
the  use  of  smiling  irony.  In  his  personal  relations 
with  his  colleagues  he  gave  proof  of  the  most 
friendly  simplicity.  One  day  I  was  violently  at- 
tacked from  the  tribune  by  a  Conservative.  Now, 
as  the  cycle  of  speakers  was  closed,  it  was  impos- 
sible for  me  to  reply  to  my  contradictor,  so  I  went 
and  complained  to  Count  von  Ballestrem.  He 
said  to  me: 

"Ask  permission  to  speak,  in  order  to  make  a 
personal  remark.  Carefully  prepare  your  reply, 
which  must  be  short.  You  must  deliver  it  very 
quickly  and  in  an  undertone.  I  shall  lend  an  ear 
to  what  you  are  saying,  but  shall  not  hear  you 
until  your  rectification  is  sufficiently  comprehen- 
sible. I  shall  then  point  out  that  you  are  over- 
stepping the  limits  of  a  personal  explanation  and 
shall  withdraw  your  right  of  speech." 

Which  was  done. 

The  President  of  the  Reichstag  had  taken  part 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  95 

in  the  1870  campaign  as  a  captain  on  the  Staff. 
He  hked  to  relate  how,  every  time  it  was  possible, 
he  had  tried  to  diminish  the  sufferings  of  the  popu- 
lations of  the  invaded  countries. 

Very  jealous  of  the  rare  privileges  of  the 
Reichstag,  he  never  failed  to  intervene  when  the 
officials  violated  them.  On  the  occasion  of  the 
fêtes  given  in  honour  of  the  coming-of-age  of  the 
Crown  Prince,  it  was  decided  that  our  cards  as 
representatives  should  serve  as  permits  to  pass 
all  barriers  established  by  the  police.  Wishing  to 
cross  the  Linden,  which  was  forbidden  to  the 
crowd,  I  was  nevertheless  stopped  near  the 
Brandenburg  Gate  by  an  officer.  It  was  necessary 
for  me  to  make  a  detour,  in  order  to  find  a  more 
obliging  member  of  the  police.  The  next  day  I 
mentioned  this  incident  to  Count  von  Ballestrem. 
He  insisted  on  having  the  police  officer  who  had 
shown  lack  of  respect  to  a  Parliamentary  repre- 
sentative punished,  and  he  succeeded  in  doing  so. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  President  of  the  Reichs- 
tag was  very  attached  to  out-of-date  formulas, 
which  on  one  occasion  served  him  a  bad  turn.  In 
an  address  to  the  Emperor  he  so  far  forgot  himself 
one  day  as  to  use  the  words  "Ich  ersterhe  zu 
Filssen  Euerer  Majestat"  ("I  expire  at  Your 
Majesty's  feet").  The  journals  of  the  Left  pro- 
tested most  violently  against  this  servile  phrase. 


96  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

whilst  the  satirical  organs  covered  it  with  ridicule. 

He  was,  however,  a  Monarchist  of  the  old 
school,  and  though,  as  the  master  of  numerous 
Pohsh  workmen,  he  possessed  a  certain  compre- 
hension of  the  complaints  of  the  oppressed 
nationalities,  he  was  ever  trying  to  win  us  over 
to  the  cause  of  the  Empire.  Although  tall  and 
rather  massive,  he  was  not  lacking  in  distinction, 
and  he  never  departed  from  the  most  prepossess- 
ing politeness,  even  when  the  natural  impetuosity 
of  his  temperament  led  him  into  fiery  discussions. 
Since  Simons,  the  Reichstag  had  never  known  so 
remarkable  a  President. 

I  have  just  spoken  of  the  fêtes  on  the  coming- 
of-age  of  the  Crown  Prince.  Several  Sovereigns 
were  expected  in  Berhn  on  that  occasion.  I  went 
to  the  Anhalt  railway  station  to  witness  the  arrival 
of  the  Emperor  of  Austria.  I  had  been  told  that 
the  sight  would  be  interesting.  There  were  twenty 
of  us  on  the  steps  when  Francis  Joseph's  special 
train  arrived.  After  the  two  Sovereigns  had  em- 
braced several  times,  they  passed  the  guard  of 
honour  in  review.  Now,  each  of  the  sections  of 
this  guard  was  commanded  by  one  of  the  young 
brothers  of  the  Prince  Imperial.  All  the  men  of 
the  guard  were  giants.  When  the  time  came  for 
them  to  march  past,  I  witnessed  the  most  gro- 
tesque scene  I  have  ever  contemplated  in  my  life. 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  97 

The  princes,  each  placed  in  front  of  one  of  the 
sections,  raised  their  stiffened  legs  to  the  height  of 
their  chins  in  order  to  maintain  the  regulation  dis- 
tance between  their  men  and  themselves.  The  two 
Emperors,  on  seeing  the  poor  lads,  and  especially 
the  ten-year-old  Prince  Oscar,  execute  a  review 
step  so  utterly  ridiculous,  laughed  until  the  tears 
rolled  down  their  cheeks. 

Alas!  Francis  Joseph  no  longer  laughed  a 
few  moments  later  when  the  carriages  crossed  at 
a  trot  the  Koniggratzerstrasse,  that  is  to  say  the 
street  the  insolent  name  of  which  recalled  his 
bloody  defeat  of  1866  and  the  savage  spoliation 
which  followed.  A  few  Berlin  newspapers  were 
vaguely  conscious  of  the  lack  of  tact  of  which  the 
Prussian  Government  was  guilty  towards  the 
aged  Emperor,  and  proposed  that  the  name  of  the 
avenue  be  changed  ;  but  the  pan-Germans,  already 
very  powerful  at  that  time,  were  passionately  op- 
posed to  it. 


98  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 


CHAPTER  V 

Foreign  Politics 

Premonitions  of  War — Finlanders  and  Alsace-Lorrainers. 

A  FACT  that  always  struck  me  in  the  Reichstag 
was  the  profound  ignorance  of  my  colleagues — 
even  the  most  intelligent — as  regards  foreign  poli- 
tics. Neither  Heydebrandt,  nor  Spahn,  nor 
Bassermann,  nor  even  Richter  was  capable  of 
checking  the  information  supplied  by  the  Chan- 
cellor, or  which  came  from  the  large  patriotic 
associations.  There  were  no  readers  for  the 
English,  French,  and  Italian  papers,  with  which 
the  reading-room  was  abundantly  supplied.  Only 
the  Poles  and  the  representatives  of  Alsace-Lor- 
raine perused  them. 

During  the  sixteen  years  I  was  in  the  Reichstag 
I  noted  but  one  exception  to  this  rule.  Herr  von 
Stollberg-Wernigerode,  the  President  who  fol- 
lowed Count  von  Ballestrem,  came  every  morning 
at  10  o'clock  to  take  he  Figaro  and  Le  Nouvelliste 
d'Alsace-Lorraine  from  the  reading-room.  He 
even  deigned  one  day  to  express  to  me  the  pleasure 
he  took  in  reading  my  journal. 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  99 

The  Imperial  Government  had  a  splendid  op- 
portunity of  directing  its  foreign  policy  as  it  liked, 
in  a  Parliament  where  all  the  parties  accorded  it 
their  confidence  so  liberally.  The  most  hazardous 
affirmations  of  the  Chancellor  were  accepted  with- 
out the  least  examination.  The  solemn  speech 
which  Prince  von  Biilow  or  Herr  von  Bethmann- 
Hollweg  delivered  every  year  when  the  Budget  of 
Foreign  Affairs  came  on  for  its  second  reading 
was  without  doubt  the  great  event  of  the  session; 
but  the  Govermnental  orator  w^as  always  the  only 
speaker,  or  when,  perchance,  leaders  of  groups 
rose  to  speak  after  him,  it  was  only  to  complete 
his  declarations  by  information  which,  to  the 
knowledge  of  everyone,  had  been  supplied  them 
by  the  Foreign  Office.  This  abdication  of  Parlia- 
ment was  both  a  strength  and  a  weakness.  The 
nation  and  its  representatives  formed  a  block 
before  the  foreigner,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
Emperor  and  the  Chancellor,  unhampered  in  their 
movements,  could  lead  the  country  into  the  worst 
complications,  without  public  opinion  being  able 
to  react. 

If  the  Reichstag  went  to  meet  this  servitude,  the 
Press  was  obliged  to  accept  it.  Every  morning 
the  contributors  to  the  Berlin  newspapers  and  the 
correspondents  of  the  big  provincial  dailies  called 
at  a  fixed  hour  at  the  offices  of  the  AVillielmstrasse, 


100  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

where  an  official  of  the  Foreign  Office  gave  them 
an  account  of  the  exterior  situation  of  the  Empire. 
Woe  to  him  who,  in  his  articles,  did  not  keep  to  in- 
structions! He  was  immediately  excluded  from 
these  instructive  conferences  and  deprived  of  the 
official  manna.  Consequently  the  newspapers 
always  struck  with  perfect  accord  the  Govern- 
mental note.  This  impressive  unanimity  often 
deceived  the  foreigner,  by  making  him  believe  that 
Germany's  policy  came  from  the  soul  of  the 
people.  Now,  if  it  is  true  that,  during  recent 
years,  the  German  people,  subjected  to  methodical 
training,  have  supported  all  the  wild  claims  of 
pan-Germanism,  we  should  be  wrong  in  supposing 
that,  more  free  and  better  advised,  it  would  have 
been  incapable  of  respecting  the  rights  of  other 
nationalities. 

Naturally  gregarious,  and  trained  from  child- 
hood in  the  practice  of  the  most  rigid  intellectual 
discipline,  the  German  accepts  the  ready-made 
formulas  imposed  upon  him.  Subjected  to  a 
democratic  régime,  he  might,  perhaps,  in  time 
recover  his  individuality;  but  before  1914  he  was 
acquainted  with  only  blind  submission  to  the  guid- 
ance of  his  rulers  and  their  inspirers,  the  pan- 
Germans. 

The  stupidities  I  have  heard  concerning  foreign 
politics  during  the  sixteen  years  I  was  in  the 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  101 

Reichstag  are  hardly  believable.  My  colleagues 
spoke  of  France  with  disdainful  pity.  This  un- 
fortunate country  was  in  a  state  of  complete  de- 
composition. With  the  complicity  of  a  venal 
administration  and  a  rotten  Parliament,  every 
vice  was  displayed  there.  There  was  no  longer 
either  religion,  or  morals,  or  shame.  Our  litera- 
ture was  tainted,  our  middle-classes  were  cruelly 
egoistic,  and  our  army  was  without  discipline. 
The  old  Latin  civilisation,  already  so  compro- 
mised in  dirty  Italy  and  backward  Spain,  was 
submerged  by  a  fetid  mud  in  that  "beautiful 
France,"  where,  however,  she  had  formerly  shone 
with  such  brilliance. 

"Beware!"  I  often  used  to  say  to  Erzberger 
when  he  treated  me  to  these  stereotyped  phrases; 
"France  is  the  country  of  sudden  awakenings,  of 
prodigious  resurrections." 

"Nonsense!"  he  replied  in  his  passionate  voice. 
"We'll  overthrow  your  idol  with  our  little  finger. 
And  look  out  for  breakages.  It  will  be  not  five 
but  fifty  thousand  millions  of  francs  we  shall  exact 
from  the  conquered,  and  we  shall  impose  upon  her 
a  treaty  of  commerce  which  will  paralyse  her  for 
a  century." 

This  threat  always  recurred  in  my  colleagues' 
conversations  when  they  spoke  of  France.  In  their 
malevolent  phrases  one  could  detect  both  base 


102  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

envy  and  the  most  savage  covetousness.  Never- 
theless, the  brilHance  of  French  culture  filled  semi- 
barbaric  Germany  with  respect.  At  the  same 
time  the  legendary  wealth  of  the  rival  country  ex- 
ercised an  irresistible  attraction  on  the  pillagers  of 
the  North. 

Every  time  that  German  diplomacy  received  a 
check,  France,  "eaten  up  with  a  desire  for  re- 
venge," was  made  responsible  for  it.  "There 
would  be  no  peace  in  Europe  until  the  eternal 
mar-joy  had  been  reduced  to  impotence." 

It  is  a  curious  thing  that,  as  soon  as  a  conflict 
arose,  whether  it  came  from  the  direction  of  Rus- 
sia, the  protector  of  the  Slavs,  or  from  that  of 
England,  anxious  to  retain  the  command  of  the 
seas,  all  the  members  of  the  Reichstag  immedi- 
ately began  to  speak  impudently  of  "France,  the 
hostage."  Thus,  during  the  early  years  of  the 
reign  of  Edward  VII,  when  it  seemed  as  though 
any  durable  reconciliation  with  the  Anglo-Saxons 
had  become  impossible,  it  was  currently  said  in 
the  Reichstag,  "Very  well!  Our  fleet  will  cer- 
tainly be  blockaded  in  our  ports,  but,  whether 
France  wishes  to  join  with  England  or  not,  we 
shall  secure  guarantees  on  her  territory.  She  it 
is  who  will  pay  the  expenses  of  the  enterprise." 

Frenchmen  were  thus  to  bear  the  responsibility 
and  suffer  the  consequences  of  everything  un- 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  103 

pleasant  which  happened  to  the  Germanic  Empire. 
Hatred  of  the  English  broke  out  among  the  Ger- 
mans only  later,  when,  under  the  inspiration  of 
Prince  von  Biilow,  the  magic  word  of  "world 
politics"  (Weltpolitik)  became  the  motto  of 
William  II. 

How  many  times  I  have  heard  that  flaming 
word,  which  henceforth  was  to  galvanise  the  whole 
nation,  repeated  in  the  lobbies  of  the  Reichstag! 
Weltpolitik;  that  signified  the  domination  of  the 
entire  universe.  "Nothing  must  happen  in  the 
world,"  the  Emperor  had  proudly  declared,  "be- 
fore Germany  has  said  her  word."  And  the 
whole  nation  docilely  repeated  his  arrogant  words. 

But,  to  attain  the  desired  end,  it  was  necessary 
that  Germany,  already  possessing  the  strongest 
army,  should  also  have  a  first-rate  navy.  It  was 
by  waving  that  bawble  Weltpolitik  that  Prince 
von  Biilow  obtained  the  vote  for  enormous  naval 
credits. 

However,  they  abstained  from  provoking  Eng- 
land until  the  hour  came  when  the  Empire  could 
measure  itself  with  her  on  the  seas.  The  Chancel- 
lor had  given  the  instructions — "No  difficulties 
with  Great  Britain  until  our  naval  constructions 
are  finished."  And  the  docile  members  of  the 
Reichstag  repeated  in  the  lobbies,  "We  will  settle 
accounts  with  the  English,  but  first  of  all  we  must 


104  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

send  them  to  sleep  with  friendly  declarations,  so 
that  they  will  not  profit  by  their  formidable  ad- 
vance. The  awakening  will  be  all  the  ruder  for 
them  when,  having  got  up  to  them  or  outstripped 
them,  we  speak  with  the  master's  voice."  These 
remarks  were  made  openly.  It  is  rather  surpris- 
ing that  their  echo  did  not  reach  the  islanders, 
especially  at  the  time  when  Viscount  Haldane 
tried  to  obtain  an  Anglo-German  maritime  con- 
vention relative  to  the  limitation  of  naval  con- 
structions, and  when  Germany,  after  long  and 
painful  negotiations,  refused  to  accept  the  British 
principle  of  "two  flags.'* 

In  his  Memoirs^  Prince  von  Biilow  confesses 
with  supreme  effrontery  that  such  was  indeed  his 
policy. 

"Supported  to-day  by  a  respectable  navy,"  he 
writes,  "we  are,  as  regards  England,  in  a  different 
position  from  what  we  were  in  fifteen  years  ago, 
when  it  was  necessary  for  us,  as  much  as  possible, 
to  avoid  a  conflict  with  that  Power,  until  we  had 
built  our  fleet.'* 

What  chiefly  struck  me  in  the  conversations 
which  I  had  with  my  colleagues  of  all  parties  was 
the  profound  disdain  these  ignorant  men  pro- 
fessed for  the  allies  of  their  country.  To  hear 
them  talk,  Austria,  a  Slavonicised  Power,  could 
only  regain  its  ancient  splendour  through  Prus- 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  105 

sian  discipline.  The  whole  of  Germany  laughed 
over  the  lesson  which  William  II  gave  Francis 
Joseph  when,  meeting  the  heir  to  the  Crown  of  the 
Hapsburgs  at  the  funeral  of  the  Prince  Regent  of 
Bavaria,  the  Emperor  said  to  the  Archduke: 

"You  are  making  a  good  deal  of  noise  with  my 
big  sabre." 

Was  it  not  the  duty  of  Germany's  "brilliant 
second"  to  accept  without  control  the  orders  of 
Berlin? 

As  to  the  ItaHans,  there  was  not  an  insult  they 
did  not  heap  upon  them.  These  "macaroni- 
eaters"  and  "guitar-players"  were  decidedly  in- 
supportably  conceited.  They  owed  everything  to 
Germany — both  their  national  security  and  eco- 
nomic prosperity.  At  the  first  "waltz"  they 
would  indeed  make  them  feel  it. 

At  the  time  of  the  Tripoli  expedition,  the  Ger- 
man Press,  on  the  order  of  the  Chancellor,  for 
weeks  called  the  Italians  ruffians,  pirates,  and 
wreckers.  Erzberger  foamed  with  rage  at  the 
thought  that  the  only  Turkish  province  where 
Germany  could  hope  to  gain  a  foothold  on  the 
shores  of  the  Mediterranean  was  about  to  fall  into 
the  hands  of  those  "wretched  fellows  of  Rome." 
It  w^as  on  hearing  these  wild  invectives  that  I 
judged  of  the  appetite  of  pan-Germanism,  of  that 
monstrous    doctrine   w'hich    excludes    even    Ger- 


106  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

many's  allies  from  the  benefit  of  future  conquests. 

Let  us  once  more  note  moreover  that  there  is  not 
a  man  in  the  Reichstag  caj)able  of  resisting  the 
official  doctrine,  and  that  all  the  members,  even 
those  who  belong  to  the  governing  élite,  merely- 
repeat  over  and  over  again  the  ready-made  phrases 
of  the  Press  inspired  by  the  offices  of  the  Wilhelm- 
strasse. 

Here  is  a  suggestive  fact  which  proves  how 
gregarious  a  people  the  Germans  are.  When 
Edward  VII  and  the  Queen  of  England  con- 
sented, after  a  long  family  disagreement,  to  pay 
an  oflScial  visit  to  their  Imperial  nephew  in  the 
Prussian  capital,  the  reception  prepared  for  them 
in  Berlin  surpassed  in  brilliance  and  enthusiasm 
everything  I  had  seen  up  to  then.  A  few  days 
before,  the  Prussian  newspapers  were  still  over- 
flowing with  insults  to  wicked  England,  whose 
intention  was  "to  encircle"  Germany.  They  were 
now  filled  with  frenzied  articles  celebrating  the 
return  of  their  "blood  relations"  to  the  homeland. 
In  the  streets,  brilliantly  decorated  with  flags,  the 
crowd  vociferated  tremendous  "Hochs."  Gar- 
lands of  red,  white,  and  blue  paper,  suspended 
from  the  trees  in  the  Unter  den  Linden,  formed 
a  veritable  canopy  under  which  the  promenaders 
joyously  chatted  about  the  promising  perspective 
of  an  Anglo-German  Alliance.     With  what  end- 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  107 

less  exclamations  the  people  of  Berlin  welcomed 
their  guests  of  a  day! 

I  amused  myself  on  that  occasion  by  recalling, 
in  my  paper,  that,  after  Jena,  the  Prussians  had 
received  their  conqueror  of  the  day  before  with 
the  same  signs  of  joy,  and  that  already  in  those 
days  they  had  decorated  the  lime  trees  of  their 
celebrated  avenue  with  paper  leaves  and  flowers, 
a  symbol  of  their  platitude  and  bad  taste.  That 
brought  me  a  tremendous  slating  in  the  semi- 
official Press.  It  is  true  that,  a  few  weeks  later, 
fresh  instructions  having  been  given,  the  same 
Press  resumed  its  old  surly  tone  towards  England. 

I  also  wish  to  point  out  that  until  1911  German 
policy,  whilst  aggressive,  did  not  seem  to  tend 
towards  the  coming  war.  The  events  in  the  Bal- 
kans, in  the  course  of  which  Germany  was  con- 
stantly checked  by  England's  policy,  gave  birth, 
first  of  all  in  official  circles  and  then  in  parliamen- 
tary ones,  to  the  desire  to  start  the  great  world 
conflict  with  as  little  delay  as  possible.  From 
that  date  war  was  spoken  of  in  the  Reichstag  as  an 
irresistible  eventuality.  Consequently,  the  mili- 
tary Bills  brought  before  Parliament  three  years 
in  succession,  and  which  strengthened  the  army  to 
the  extent  of  a  third  of  its  effective  in  time  of 
peace,  at  the  very  moment  when  the  finances  of 
the  Empire  were  in  a  most  lamentable  condition. 


108  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

were  passed  by  overwhelming  majorities.  OfR- 
cial  spokesmen,  as  well  as  those  of  the  bourgeois 
parties,  frankly  spoke  from  the  tribune  of  the 
"struggle  on  two  fronts"  (the  French  front  and 
the  Russian).  They  openly  counted  on  English 
neutrahty  and  the  tardy  but  certain  assistance  of 
Italy. 

As  it  was  necessary  to  have  a  pretext  for  letting 
loose  the  storm  at  the  moment  chosen  by  the 
General  Staff,  German  statesmen  constantly 
strove  to  have  two  or  three  reasons  for  a  conflict 
in  reserve,  such  as  the  Balkanic  imbroglio,  the 
Moroccan  affair,  and,  last  but  not  least,  the  For- 
eign Legion. 

Bassermann  had  made  a  speciality  of  this  last- 
named  pretext  for  a  German  quarrel.  This 
Mannheim  lawyer  was  seized  with  veritable  attacks 
of  hysteria  when  he  spoke  of  the  tortures  inflicted 
on  soldiers  of  the  Legion  of  Germanic  birth  by 
the  French  galley-sergeants.  For  month  after 
month,  under  the  direction  of  this  experienced 
conductor  of  the  orchestra,  the  Press  reproduced 
the  most  improbable  stories  anent  the  martyrdom 
of  the  poor  victims  of  welche  barbarity,  who,  how- 
ever, ought  to  have  been  regarded  by  the  Ger- 
mans as  mere  vulgaï  deserters.  Even  the  stage 
seized  hold  of  this  melodramatic  subject.  France 
was  literally  dragged  in  the  mud  by  all  the  scrib- 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  109 

biers  and  mummers  of  the  Empire.  If  the  assas- 
sination of  Francis  Ferdinand  had  not  precipi- 
tated the  march  of  events,  it  is  probable  that 
Germany  would  have  called  upon  France  to  dis- 
band the  Legion.  A  pretext  for  war,  henceforth 
desired  by  everyone  in  Germany,  was  necessary. 
In  one  way  or  another,  they  would  have  found  it. 

I  am  not  writing  thoughtlessly.  Since  1913 
we  all  had  the  almost  physical  impression  that  the 
great  crisis  was  near  at  hand.  This  is  so  true 
that  my  colleagues  of  the  Strassburg  Parliament 
all  began  to  hoard  gold  at  that  time.  In  paying 
for  their  smallest  purchases  they  presented  100- 
mark  notes,  so  as  to  obtain  coin,  which  they  put  on 
one  side  for  bad  times. 

I  had  the  opportunity  several  times  of  warning 
my  friends  in  France  of  the  danger  that  threat- 
ened them.  Few  were  those  who  paid  attention 
to  my  cry  of  alarm.  And  yet  all  the  signs  of  the 
evil  intentions  of  Germany  were  there.  Was  not 
Erzberger  applauded  by  the  entire  Reichstag 
when  he  stated,  in  the  face  of  all  evidence,  that  the 
last  increase  in  the  German  effective  was  a 
"reply"  to  the  voting  of  the  three  years'  Military 
service  Bill  by  the  French  Parliament? 

This  same  Erzberger,  as  well  as  Oertel  and 
Bassermann,  had  often  said  to  me: 

*'In  1905  we  missed  a  unique  opportunity  of 


no  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

finishing  with  France,  then  completely  disarmed." 

In  the  country  of  all  these  freebooters  there 
was  always  the  same  eager  desire — to  enslave  and 
despoil  "the  hereditary  enemy." 

The  inexperience  of  the  German  Parliamentary 
representatives  in  matters  of  foreign  politics  will 
be  clearly  seen  from  the  following  case.  Ten  years 
ago,  a  few  Democrats  (certainly  in  agreement 
with  the  Chancellor)  circulated  in  the  Reichstag 
a  petition  addressed  to  the  Duma,  urgently  beg- 
ging their  Russian  colleagues  to  grant  a  broader 
autonomy  to  Finland. 

When  Miiller-Meiningen  presented  this  peti- 
tion to  me,  I  said  to  him,  "My  dear  colleague,  I 
will  sign  this  paper  on  the  day  you  authorise  the 
French  Chamber  to  ask  the  Reichstag,  officially, 
to  put  an  end  to  the  servitude  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Alsace-Lorraine."  Old  Miiller  is  still  running 
around. 

It  was  doubtless  to  avenge  his  discomfiture  on 
that  occasion  that  he  took  charge,  in  1915,  of  the 
report  on  my  expulsion  from  the  Reichstag. 

The  history  of  this  report  is  amusing.  Miiller- 
Meiningen,  in  order  to  deprive  me  legally  of  my 
seat,  could  find  but  a  single  argument.  "Since 
the  beginning  of  the  war,"  it  ran,  "Wetterlé  has 
published  in  French  newspapers  several  articles 
signed  'An  Ex-member  of  the  Reichstag,'  which 


I 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  111 

shows  that  he  himself  no  longer  considers  he  be- 
longs to  this  Parliament.  One  can,  therefore, 
conclude  that  he  has  handed  in  his  resignation  as 
a  member  in  a  regular  manner."  The  Reichstag 
accepted  this  extraordinary  reasoning  and  I  was 
deprived  of  my  seat. 

But  I  had  another  seat — that  of  a  Deputy  in  the 
Alsace-Lorraine  Chamber.  In  this  country  of 
the  Empire,  it  is  not  Parliament  but  the  Court  of 
Appeal  of  Colmar  which  decides  regarding  the 
validity  of  mandates.  Instructed  about  my  case 
by  the  President  of  the  Second  Chamber,  the 
Court  of  Appeal,  in  its  turn,  pronounced  for- 
feiture, but  for  reasons  of  propriety.  "A  man 
against  whom  an  action  for  high  treason  is  pend- 
ing," ran  the  judgment,  "cannot  belong  to  a 
German  Parliament."  The  interesting  point, 
however,  about  this  affair  is  that  the  Court  of 
Appeal,  in  its  long  statement  of  reasons,  refutes 
Miiller-Meiningen's  argumentation.  "We  should 
be  wrong  in  considering  that  the  fact  of  Wetterlé 
having  written  articles  signed  with  the  signature 
'An  Ex-member  of  the  Reichstag'  constitutes  a 
regular  resignation.  To  be  valid,  a  resignation 
must  be  addressed  to  the  President  of  the  Assem- 
bly, and  be  signed  by  the  resigner 's  own  hand." 
I  should  never  have  thought  the  judges  of  Colmar 
were  capable  of  giving  the  Reichstag  such  a  lesson. 


112  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 


CHAPTER  VI 

Pan- Germanism 

Without  Rights — Duplicate  Majorities — Kaempf  and 
Paasche — The  Empire  and  the  Colonies — The  Pan-Ger- 
mans— Prince  von  Hohenlohe — Composition  of  the 
Reichstag — Faking  the  Budget. 

Parliamentarism  is  but  a  fiction  in  Germany. 
Doubtless  the  rules  of  the  Reichstag  anticipate  the 
members'  right  of  initiative.  Yet  this  right  re- 
mained until  recent  years  purely  fictitious.  In- 
deed, when  an  interpellation  was  being  discussed, 
the  Government  benches  were  almost  always 
empty,  the  Chancellor  and  his  collaborators  show- 
ing by  their  voluntary  absence  that  in  principle 
they  did  not  consider  they  were  obliged  to  hold 
themselves  at  the  disposal  of  members  in  order 
to  reply  to  indiscreet  questions.  As,  in  conse- 
quence, debates  on  an  interpellation  could  not  end 
in  the  voting  of  an  order  of  the  day,  these  talks 
were  without  object.  The  Reichstag  understood 
this  so  well  that  it  set  aside  one  day  per  week 
(ScJiwerinstag — Schwerin's     day — named     after 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  113 

the  author  of  the  proposal)  for  these  sterile  exer- 
cises in  parliamentary  eloquence. 

In  1911,  at  the  time  the  rules  were  revised,  the 
members  thought  they  had  scored  an  enormous 
success  when  the  Chancellor  agreed  that  interpel- 
lations should  be  concluded  with  a  vote  of  appro- 
bation or  censure.  But  as  this  vote  in  no  way 
either  consolidated  or  shook  the  Government,  the 
concession  was  a  purely  formal  one. 

Private  Bills  generally  met  with  the  same  fate 
as  interpellations.  It  was  necessary  that  they 
should  all  be  laid  on  the  table  within  the  first  week 
of  the  Parliamentary  session,  numbered  according 
to  the  importance  attached  to  them  by  their  au- 
thors. This  being  done,  the  director  classified 
them,  not  in  accordance  with  their  urgency,  but 
in  the  order  of  the  numerical  importance  of  the 
group  which  had  presented  them,  at  the  rate  of  one 
Bill  for  every  group.  On  coming  to  the  end  of 
the  first  round,  they  passed  to  the  second,  and  so 
on  in  succession.  These  Bills,  even  when  they 
obtained  a  majority  in  the  Reichstag,  were  rarely 
accepted  by  the  Federal  Council,  which  generally 
treated  them  with  disdain,  for  it  hardly  took  the 
trouble  to  read  them.  The  improvisations  of 
Parliament,  I  delight  in  recollecting,  often  merit 
no  better  fate. 

It  was  thus  that  the  Centre,  after  the  scandal 


114  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

caused  by  the  Heintze  case,  took  it  into  its  head 
to  modify  the  legislation  regarding  licentiousness 
in  the  streets.  That  honest  man  Roehren  had 
been  entrusted  with  the  drawing  up  of  the  Bill. 
He  thought  he  had  solved  the  problem  in  fifty 
laboriously  drawn-up  clauses,  in  which  he 
imagined  he  had  foreseen  everything.  Unfortu- 
nately, this  complicated  structure  rested  on  the 
fragile  basis  of  the  sense  of  shame,  which  is  very 
variable.  In  reference  to  it,  Groeber,  of  the  Cen- 
tre, made  the  following  interesting  disclosure: 

"Only  the  French  know  how  to  draw  up  Bills. 
For  instance,  take  the  Bérenger  Law.  It  consists 
of  only  five  lines,  but  it  enables  you  to  reach  all 
offenders.  We  try  to  include  all  possibilities  in 
the  Bill  itself,  instead  of  leaving  the  estimation  of 
them  to  jurisprudence.  Thence  spring  compli- 
cated and  almost  always  inapplicable  texts.  The 
trees  end  by  preventing  us  seeing  the  forest. 
Study  the  Roehren  Bill.  Its  meshes  are  numer- 
ous and  close,  and  yet  it  lets  all  the  big  fish  es- 
cape." 

The  debates  on  the  "Heintze  Bill"  (as  it  was 
generally  called,  after  the  name  of  the  souteneur 
who  had  led  to  it  being  brought  in)  were  extra- 
ordinary. There  was  a  secret  sitting  of  the 
Reichstag.  Roehren  and  Bebel  gave  us  impres- 
sive statistics  regarding  the  number  of  prostitutes 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  115 

and  other  disreputable  characters  of  BerHn, 
Munich,  Cologne,  and  Hamburg.  On  the  table 
of  the  House  was  a  heap  of  suggestive  documents. 
What  an  abominable  secret  museum,  and  how 
lowering  this  exposure  of  her  secret  vices  was  to 
virtuous  Germany! 

I  was  somewhat  scandalised  by  the  eagerness 
with  which  my  colleagues  began  to  examine 
minutely  the  incriminating  articles  placed  at  their 
disposal.  I  was  still  more  so  when  I  ascertained 
that  this  display  of  filth  inspired  no  virile  resolu- 
tion on  the  part  of  either  Chancellor  or  Parlia- 
ment. The  Bill  was,  in  fact,  thrown  out,  without 
any  attempt  being  made  to  substitute  more  ac- 
ceptable legislative  formulas  in  its  place.  Official 
Germany  resigned  itself  to  allowing  the  flood  of 
debauch  to  rise,  without  even  attempting  to  raise 
a  dam  against  it.  And  yet,  in  the  eyes  of  all  the 
puritans  of  Berlin,  Paris  remains  the  modern 
Babylon.  Such  hypocrisy  would  be  disconcerting 
if  one  did  not  know  that  German  virtues — fidelity 
to  a  promise,  scientific  probity,  civic  courage  and 
honesty  in  business — are  a  hollow  sham. 

The  closed  life  of  parties  in  the  Reichstag  is 
easily  explained.  In  the  German  Empire  polit- 
ical groups  have  no  responsibility,  since  they  never 
come  into  power.  They  are  supernumeraries 
and  not  the  principal  actors  in  the  political  drama, 


116  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

if  I  may  be  allowed  to  express  myself  in  that  way. 

In  countries  possessing  a  parliamentary  régime, 
the  parties,  compelled  periodically  to  assume  the 
burden  of  government,  know  how  to  adapt  their 
programmes  to  the  necessities  of  public  life. 
Thus  they  acquire  that  practical  knowledge  which 
German  parliamentarians  lack  completely.  The 
latter  are  face  to  face  with  Ministries  formed, 
apart  from  majorities,  by  irresponsible  Sovereigns. 
Consequently,  the  groups,  which  have  not  the 
anxiety  of  accommodating  their  political  theories 
to  the  possibilities  of  the  administration,  are  able 
to  isolate  themselves  in  the  most  intransigent  doc- 
trinarianism. 

As,  in  consequence,  they  hope  to  obtain  a  few 
realisations  only  by  Governmental  favour  and 
compromises  with  other  parties,  the  Reichstag, 
like  the  Parhaments  of  the  various  States,  pre- 
sents that  curious  spectacle  of  an  assembly  in 
which  the  most  disciplined  and  the  most  narrowly 
doctrinarian  fractions  nevertheless  exhaust  them- 
selves by  repugnant  bargainings. 

Whatever  may  be  the  composition  of  the  Im- 
perial Parliament,  the  Chancellor  has,  therefore, 
every  advantage.  He  can  always  count  on  find- 
ing there  duplicate  majorities,  provided  he  knows 
how  to  pay  the  price  for  the  "conversion"  of  one 
of  the  principal  groups  of  the  Reichstag. 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  117 

Prince  von  Biilow  was  the  first  who,  since  Bis- 
marck's "Kartell"  was  overthrown,  attempted,  in 
1903,  to  create  a  compact  majority.  He  suc- 
ceeded by  forcing  the  patriotic  note. 

Up  to  1907  the  Imperial  Parliament  was  com- 
posed of  a  Right  (Conservatives  and  National 
Liberals)  which  was  not  sufficiently  powerful  to 
obtain  a  majority,  even  in  military,  naval,  and 
colonial  questions,  against  an  ever  possible  coah- 
tion  of  the  Centre,  the  Democrats,  and  the  Social- 
ists, supported  by  the  Polish  fraction  and  the 
Alsace-Lorraine  group.  Prince  von  Biilow,  by 
oflTering  official  support  to  the  Democrats  (Radi- 
cals) on  the  condition  that  henceforth  they  sup- 
ported him  in  all  demands  of  a  national  order, 
succeeded  in  reducing  the  number  of  Socialist 
seats  by  half.  From  that  time  the  Centre  no 
longer  played  the  part  of  arbitrator  between  the 
Right  and  the  Left  of  the  Assembly.  Prince  von 
Biilow  always  denied  that  he  wished  to  combat  the 
Centre,  the  assistance  of  which  was  often  so  pre- 
cious to  him;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
he  hoped  to  deprive  a  party,  which,  in  his  opinion, 
made  conditions  for  its  support  too  burdensome, 
of  its  preponderant  position. 

He  fully  succeeded.  Of  all  Parliaments,  the 
Reichstag  of  1907  was  the  most  patriotic.  The 
domesticated  Democrats  voted  enthusiastically  in 


118  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

favour  of  all  military  credits,  and  the  Centre, 
henceforth  powerless,  only  thought,  whilst  rival- 
ling with  the  groups  of  the  Right  in  patriotism,  of 
making  sure  of  Governmental  favours. 

In  order  to  obtain  this  national  concentration 
of  parties,  Prince  von  Biilow  had  the  cleverness 
during  the  discussion  to  utter  a  magic  word  which 
he  thought  would  turn  aside  the  debate  from  its 
right  course.  "Policy  of  the  Block" — such  was 
the  label  which  he  stuck  on  his  programme.  By 
borrowing  this  term  from  the  home  policy  of 
France,  the  Chancellor  thought  he  would  call  to 
arms  the  anti-clerical  hatred  of  the  German 
Lutherans.  The  manœuvre  was  a  skilful  one, 
since,  on  the  one  hand,  it  was  to  win  over  many 
waverers  to  Prussian  nationalism  and,  on  the 
other,  to  checkmate  the  Centre,  which  had  all 
sorts  of  reasons  for  fearing  the  revival  of  the 
"  Kulturhampf ." 

The  German  "Block"  was  not,  however,  speci- 
fically anti-clerical.  Biilow  himself  had  never 
thought  of  giving  it  that  character. 

The  word  was  merely  to  act  as  a  scarecrow,  as 
a  means  of  blackmailing  the  Centre.  It  pro- 
duced its  full  effect,  since  Spahn  and  Erzberger 
soon  became  the  most  convinced  and  determined 
supporters  of  Imperialism. 

The  Reichstag  of  1911  persented  quite  a  differ- 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  119 

ent  aspect.  Not  national  questions,  but  economic 
problems  raised  by  the  tremendous  increase  of 
indirect  taxation,  had  been  the  platform  during 
the  electoral  struggle.  The  Socialists  were  thus 
able  to  win  110  seats,  with  the  result  that  on  ques- 
tions of  home  policy  the  Right  (Conservatives, 
Liberals,  and  Democrats)  and  the  Left  (Centre, 
Socialists,  Poles,  and  Alscace-Lorrainers)  were 
equal. 

Von  Bethmann-Hollweg's  first  Reichstag  (the 
one  still  sitting)  came  within  an  ace  of  not  being 
constituted.  The  election  of  the  President,  Vice- 
Presidents,  and  Secretaries  gave  rise  to  stormy 
incidents.  According  to  the  traditions  of  the 
House,  the  presidency  ought  to  have  been  given 
to  the  strongest  party  nmnerically,  that  is  to  say, 
to  the  Socialists.  But  the  bourgeois  parties  could 
not  resign  themselves  to  this  extremity.  As, 
however,  the  Conservatives  and  the  National- 
Liberals  refused  to  give  their  votes  to  a  member 
of  the  Centre,  this  last  group  voted,  out  of  spite, 
for  Rebel.  If  the  Poles  had  not  shirked  at  the 
last  moment,  the  patriarch  of  the  social  revolution 
would  have  obtained  the  majority.  The  provi- 
sional executive  which  resulted  from  these  elec- 
tions was  composed  of  a  Conservative,  a  National- 
Liberal,  and  a  Socialist,  the  ineffable  Scheide- 
mann.     A  month  later,  when  the  definitive  execu- 


120  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

tive  was  formed,  an  understanding  had  not  yet 
been  arrived  at  between  Conservatives  and  Cen- 
trists. Therefore  the  small  group  of  Democrats 
obtained  the  presidency  (occupied  by  the  aged 
Kaempf)  and  a  vice-presidency  (held  by  Dove), 
whilst  the  Liberals  delegated  that  insupportable 
chatterer  Paasche  to  the  other  vice-presidency. 
Nevertheless,  during  four  weeks,  we  saw 
Scheidemann  occupy  the  presidential  chair  of  the 
Reichstag  for  an  hour  or  two  at  each  sitting. 
His  glory  was  ephemeral;  but  one  cannot  eat  of 
the  pleasant  fruit  of  fame  with  impunity.  After 
his  short  acquaintance  with  honours,  this  former 
compositor  was  to  retain  a  taste  for  high  rank 
and  influential  relations.  Whomsoever  has  not 
heard  him  say,  with  a  rising  gorge,  "I  call  upon 
his  Excellency,  the  Chancellor  of  the  Empire,  to 
speak,"  cannot  penetrate  the  mystery  of  the  soul 
of  an  upstart. 

President  Kaempf  was  a  thin  little  man  of  piti- 
ful appearance.  He  belonged  to  the  business 
world,  and  in  that  capacity  had  been  for  many 
years  the  head  of  the  Council  of  the  Elders  of  the 
City  of  Berlin — a  body  equivalent  to  a  French 
Chamber  of  Commerce.  Elected  at  the  second 
ballot,  in  1911,  by  a  majority  of  one  vote,  he  was 
the  only  bourgeois  member  of  Parliament  of  the 
Prussian  capital.     This   tremulous   old  man  is, 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  121 

moreover,  afflicted  with  deafness,  of  which  he 
knows  how  to  take  advantage,  so  as  not  to  have  to 
call  his  pohtical  friends  to  order  when  they  give 
way  to  intemperate  language.  He  has  a  long 
beard,  but  his  upper  lip  is  shaved,  giving  him  the 
appearance  of  a  Quaker.  Never  was  the  Reichs- 
tag presided  over  by  a  less  decorative  personage. 

I  shall  say  nothing  about  Dove,  except  that  his 
insignificance  is  disheartening. 

Paasche  is  more  interesting.  This  professor 
of  theoretical  agriculture  of  Charlottenburg  is  the 
busiest  of  the  members  of  the  Reichstag.  His 
interminable  speeches,  delivered  with  a  rapidity 
which  drives  to  despair  the  most  expert  sten- 
ographers, are  very  learned  but  badly  composed. 
Paasche  has  been  entrusted  with  numerous  mis- 
sions abroad.  It  was  during  one  of  these  that  a 
disagreeable  adventure  happened  to  him.  The 
story  was  told  by  a  Socialist  newspaper  in  the 
following  words: 

"A  member  of  the  Reichstag  was  recently  in 
New  York.  Hunger,  desire  and  to  some  extent 
the  devil  urging  him  on,  he  allowed  himself  to 
be  enticed  away  and  robbed.  The  imprudent 
man,  crestfallen,  went  to  the  police  station  to 
lodge  a  complaint,  and  there  had  to  reveal 
his  identity.  So  was  hann  einem  paschieren^' — 
the  last  word   being   substituted   for   passieren, 


122  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

thus  clearly  pointing  out  this  victim  of  "\^enus. 

The  whole  of  Germany  was  amused  by  this 
discourteous  revelation.  But  Paasche  did  not 
lose  the  esteem  of  his  colleagues  on  account  of 
such  a  peccadillo. 

Another  member  belonging  to  the  Right, 
Prince  Hatzfeld,  was  less  fortunate.  One  day 
he  was  caught  by  a  railway  ticket  collector  in  the 
act  of  insulting  a  lady  passenger.  The  over- 
zealous  employee  having  taken  down  his  name  and 
address,  the  authorities  had  gfreat  difficulty  in 
hushing  up  the  scandal.  The  Prince  paid  dearly 
for  this  act  of  folly,  since  there  slipped  through 
his  fingers,  successively,  the  presidency  of  the 
Reichstag,  the  post  of  Statthalter  of  Alsace- 
Lorraine,  and  an  Embassy.  He  is,  however,  a 
very  agreeable  man  and  of  more  than  average  in- 
telligence. 

Colonial  policy  was  the  object  of  constant 
thought  on  the  part  of  the  Government  and  the 
Parliamentary  groups.  Having  taken  her  place 
among  the  great  naval  Powers  late  in  the  day, 
Germany  found  all  the  great  colonies  occupied 
by  her  rivals.  She  contented  herself,  with  an  ill 
grace,  with  what  no  one  else  wanted.  Hence  a 
deep  irritation,  a  contemptible  jealousy,  and  a 
firm  determination  to  lay  hands  on  the  possessions 
of  other  nations  by  every  means  in  her  power. 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  123 

"The  Colonial  Empire  of  the  British  is  too  ex- 
tensive," my  colleagues  of  the  middle-class  parties 
were  constantly  telling  me.  "As  to  France,  she 
cannot  exploit  her  own  owing  to  an  insufficient 
number  of  colonists.  It  is  unjust  and  intolerable 
that  a  nation  with  a  high  birth-rate,  like  ours, 
cannot  succeed  in  establishing  itself  in  unpeopled 
parts,  which  we  could  turn  to  profit,  whilst  na- 
tions with  a  limited  natality  allow  all  this  wealth 
to  go  to  waste." 

This  reasoning,  constantly  repeated  by  mem- 
bers of  the  Reichstag,  had  become  part  and  parcel 
of  the  common  talk.  We  heard  it  over  and  over 
again  in  all  the  beer-shops. 

Germany  made  enormous  sacrifices  for  her  col- 
onies. Independently  of  the  credits  voted  by 
Parliament,  considerable  sums  were  collected  by 
the  Colonial  League,  one  of  the  most  powerful 
and  most  active  of  the  associations  of  the  Empire. 

Deputies  and  members  of  the  League  openly 
displayed  their  annexationist  plans.  The  Bel- 
gian as  well  as  the  French  Congo  were  to  be  theirs 
by  right.  It  was  necessary,  at  all  costs,  that 
East  and  West  Africa  should  be  united  by  a  broad 
band  of  territory,  cutting  the  Black  Continent  in 
two.  In  the  West  a  sufficient  effective  was  to  be 
maintained  to  be  able  to  invade  and  occupy  Cape 
Colony.     Quite  naturally,   the   Portuguese   pos- 


124  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

sessions  and  Morocco  would  become  German. 
Brazil,  two  provinces  of  which  were  occupied  by 
500,000  emigrants  of  German  origin,  would  be 
dismembered,  if  it  would  not  accept  the  protec- 
torate of  Germany.  Chili,  Venezuela,  and  Mex- 
ico, countries  where  German  influence  was  very 
great,  would  sooner  or  later  come  under  the 
domination  of  the  Empire.  As  to  China,  it  would 
quite  naturally  come  within  the  sphere  of  Ger- 
manic influence,  since  Kiao-chau  was  but  a  short 
distance  from  Peking. 

How  many  times  I  have  read  and  heard  these 
wild  divagations!  Awaiting  the  realisation  of 
these  wonderful  plans,  Parliament  and  the  Colo- 
nial League  set  to  work  with  equal  zeal  to  estab- 
lish bases  of  operation  for  the  German  Navy. 
To  be  able  to  understand  the  formidable  appetite 
of  the  Germans  for  domination,  it  was  necessary 
to  be  present  at  the  deliberations  of  the  Budget 
Committee.  If  the  enterprise  of  1914  had  suc- 
ceeded as  its  organisers  hoped  it  would,  the  whole 
world  would  have  been  in  servitude. 

The  League  provided  all  articles  required  by 
colonists,  even  housekeepers.  It  assumed,  in  fact, 
the  mission  of  mobilising  a  large  number  of  big, 
strong  girls  of  Brandenburg,  and  sent  them, 
carriage  paid,  to  the  Cameroons  and  East  Africa 
for  the  German  farmers,  who  were  requested  to 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  125 

choose  their  legitimate  "collaborators"  from 
among  them.  The  lordly  race  must  not,  indeed, 
prostitute  itself  by  cross-breeding.  German 
blood  in  the  colonies,  as  in  Europe,  must  remain 
free  from  any  admixture. 

It  is,  indeed,  a  rather  curious  fact  that  of  re- 
cent years  the  Pan-Germans,  carrying  their  the- 
ories of  racial  exclusivism  to  the  uttermost  point, 
protested  with  the  greatest  violence  against  mar- 
riages between  the  descendants  of  Germans  and 
women  of  other  races.  The  Hebrews  themselves 
did  not  watch  over  the  purity  of  their  race  more 
jealously. 

Germany's  colonial  policy,  however,  was  not 
always  very  fortunate.  I  need  do  no  more  than 
recall  the  Peters,  Aremberg,  and  Puttkamer 
scandals  to  establish  the  fact  that,  in  negro  coun- 
tries as  much  as  and  sometimes  more  than  on  the 
old  Continent,  the  Germans  remained  the  brutes 
they  have  always  been.  At  the  time  of  theii*  cam- 
paign against  the  Herreros,  in  East  Africa,  they 
exterminated  the  native  population  at  the  risk  of 
being  completely  deprived  of  labour. 

The  influence  of  the  Pan-Germans  was  prodi- 
gious and  daily  grew  stronger.  In  1908  the  man- 
agement of  the  League  published  a  summary  of 
its  work.  With  legitimate  pride,  they  pointed 
out  in  that  voluminous  report  that  the  Chancellors 


126  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

of  the  Empire  had  ended  by  adopting  the  whole  of 
their  programme.  The  concordance  between  the 
successive  demands  of  Pan-Germanism  and  the 
acts  of  the  Government  was  proved  in  the  most 
rigorous  manner,  year  by  year  and  ahnost  month 
by  month. 

This  marvellously  organised  League  had,  in- 
deed, secured  the  active  collaboration  of  the  whole 
corporation  of  teachers  and  also,  since  the  accen- 
tuation of  the  industrial  crisis,  that  of  the  big 
producers'  associations.  As  the  Prussian  Junk- 
ers, on  the  other  hand,  were  quite  won  over  to  its 
annexationist  theories,  one  can  state  that  everyone 
of  any  authority  in  Germany  supported  its  ef- 
forts. 

Abroad,  the  members  of  the  League  were  for 
a  long  time  regarded  as  madmen,  destitute  of  any 
influence  over  the  German  nation.  The  Pan- 
Germans  in  no  way  complained  of  this  disdainful 
disregard  of  their  political  action,  because  it 
favoured  their  designs.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  in 
a  country  where  the  Government  had  always  exer- 
cised an  indisputable  authority,  they  had  suc- 
ceeded in  dominating  the  Chancellor  himself  and 
in  dictating  their  wishes  to  him. 

I  saw  their  power  grow  in  the  Reichstag.  But 
old  Prince  von  Hohenlohe-Schillingsfiirst,  who,  in 
1898,  held  the  post  of  First  Councillor  to  the 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  127 

Emperor,  was  too  wary  and  too  sceptical  a  diplo- 
matist to  submit  to  the  injunctions  of  the  League. 
On  the  other  hand,  Prince  von  Biilow,  who  natur- 
ally inclined  towards  violent  solutions,  was  wholly 
in  favour  of  the  doctrine  of  an  all-powerful  Ger- 
many and  used  all  his  energies,  especially  during 
the  seven  years  he  was  at  the  Chancellery,  to  win 
over  the  parties  of  the  Left  to  the  ideas  of  Hasse 
and  Class. 

Since  his  arrival  in  power  the  evolution  of  Pan- 
Germanism  was  rapid  and  complete.  I  have 
already  pointed  it  out  above,  but  shall  have  occa- 
sion to  return  to  the  subject  later  on. 

Parisians  have  not  yet  forgotten  Prince  von 
Hohenlohe,  who  for  so  many  years  was  the  in- 
conspicuous but  nevertheless  remarkabty  skilful 
representative  in  the  French  capital  of  Germany. 
This  slim  little  man,  weakly  in  appearance  and 
modest  in  attitude,  was  afflicted  with  an  inordinate 
personal  ambition.  When  misadventures  of  a 
private  nature  necessitated  his  removal,  he  got 
himself  paid  royally  for  his  desistance  by  the  post 
of  Statthalter  of  Alsace-Lorraine.  After  the  fall 
of  the  Chancellor  von  Capri vi,  the  Emperor 
William  II  offered  the  Prince  his  post.  Von 
Hohenlohe  needed  pressing.  It  was  not  to  his 
liking  to  exchange  a  well-paid  post,  in  which  he 
exercised  sovereign  prerogatives,  for  a  wretchedly 


128  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

paid  office  which  would  oblige  him  to  submit  to 
the  criticisms  of  a  Parliament  still  imperfectly 
disciplined. 

In  order  to  overcome  his  resistance,  it  was 
necessary  to  double  the  Chancellor's  salary — to 
make  it  100,000  marks  (£5,000)  instead  of  50,000, 
with  which  Bismarck  and  Caprivi  had  been  con- 
tent. Another  reason — quite  a  personal  one — 
made  Prince  von  Hohenlohe  decide  to  put  on  the 
shoes  of  the  founder  of  the  Empire.  He  had 
inherited  the  Russian  estate  of  Werky.  Now,  a 
short  time  before,  the  Tsar  had  issued  a  ukase 
obliging  all  German  landlords  in  Russia  to  sell 
their  lands  within  a  period  of  nine  months.  The 
Statthalter  of  Alsace-Lorraine,  fearing  the  dis- 
astrous consequences  of  this  forced  sale,  had  gone 
to  St.  Petersburg  to  obtain  from  Alexander  III 
an  extension  of  time.  But,  at  the  reception  at 
which  he  hoped  to  present  his  request,  the  Tsar 
turned  his  back  on  him.  Prince  von  Hohenlohe 
believed  that  the  Emperor  of  All  the  Russias 
would  not  refuse  the  Chancellor  of  the  Empire 
what  he  had  refused  the  Governor  of  the  annexed 
provinces.  Events  proved  that  he  was  right. 
The  nine  nlilHons  the  Werky  estate  was  worth 
were  saved. 

I  was  forgetting  to  relate  that  before  he  suc- 
ceeded  in   this    clever   combination   Prince   von 


I 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  129 

Hohenlohe  conceived  another,  which  had  no  suc- 
cess whatever.  He  endeavoured,  in  fact,  to  make 
his  son  Alexander  a  naturalised  Russian — that 
very  son  who,  a  few  years  later,  was  appointed 
Prefect  of  Upper  Alsace.  After  having  declared 
that  he  was  ready  to  f'enounce  his  German  nation- 
ality, for  the  big  sum  of  money,  Alexander  did 
everything  in  his  power,  as  will  be  remembered,  to 
Germanise  the  people  of  Alsace-Lorraine. 
When,  later,  he  became,  thanks  to  the  most  ex- 
cessive electoral  pressure,  Deputy  for  the  aiTon- 
dissement  of  Haguenau-Wissemburg,  I  reminded 
him  from  the  tribune  of  the  Reichstag  of  that 
unpatriotic  act,  to  the  great  joy  of  my  colleagues 
of  the  Centre  and  the  Left. 

Chancel! ,.'  von  Llohenlbhe  rarely  appeared  in 
Parliament.  More  than  mediocre  as  an  orator, 
he  was  unable  to  speak  without  the  aid  of  a  manu- 
script, from  which  he  never  raised  his  eyes.  One 
day  he  happened  to  get  the  sheets  of  his  state- 
ment mixed  up.  For  more  than  ten  minutes  he 
was  painfully  occupied  in  putting  his  notes  in 
order,  whilst  the  most  unseemly  bursts  of  laughter 
came  from  all  benches. 

The  Prince,  as  one  knows,  was  devoid  of  all 
character.  The  Emperor,  who  prided  himself  on 
being  his  own  Chancellor,  had  chosen  him  chiefly 
for  that  reason,  just  as  later,  after  having  im- 


130  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

prudently  selected  a  very  individualistic  Chan- 
cellor, in  the  person  of  Prince  von  Biilow,  he  was 
to  replace  him  by  the  ductile  official  who  bears  the 
name  of  Bethmann-Hollweg. 

At  first  the  Reichstag  adapted  itself  perfectly 
to  this  phantom  Chancellor.  Its  whole  activity 
was  absorbed  in  economic  struggles,  and  Prince 
von  Hohenlohe,  equally  unconnected  with  either 
the  ultra-Protectionist  Conservatives  or  the  mod- 
erate Free  traders  of  the  parties  of  the  Left,  was 
lightly  handled  by  all  parties. 

Â  propos  of  the  conflict  of  economic  interests 
at  the  Reichstag,  I  should  like  to  point  out  that, 
contrary  to  what  happens  elsewhere,  the  compo- 
sition of  the  Imperial  Parliament  has  always  been 
very  mixed.  I  have  only  fairly  reCj^it  statistics 
at  my  disposal;  but,  as  the  general  physiognomy 
of  the  Parliament  has  never  varied  much,  they  will 
suffice  to  show  that  all  professions  were  repre- 
sented there. 

The  following  are  the  figiu'es  for  the  elections 
of  1907  and  1912:— 

Agriculturists,  106-88;  manufacturers,  21-5; 
artisans,  20-21;  tradesmen,  13-17;  workmen,  0-3; 
persons  of  independent  means,  17-13;  journalists, 
37-58;  ecclesiastics,  21-21;  professors,  24-22;  doc- 
tors and  chemists,  7-8;  lawyers,  32-39;  magis- 
trates,  35-24;   public  officials,   22-21;   communal 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  131 

employees,  9-7;  employees  of  private  enterprises, 
32-50. 

What  will  particularly  strike  i.!:e  reader  in  this 
list  is  the  large  number  of  magistrates  and  other 
officials  who  figure  in  it.  German  electoral  law 
recognised  indeed  that  all  officials  have  the  right 
to  put  up  for  Parliament  and  to  cany  out  their 
duties  there  without  being  obliged  to  send  in  their 
resignations.  It  even  allows  the  elected  official 
to  continue  to  receive  the  whole  of  his  salary, 
whilst  enjoying  the  right  of  a  vacation  equal  to 
the  duration  of  the  sessions. 

An  official,  definitely  appointed  to  administra- 
tive employment,  is  the  owner  of  his  post.  He 
can  be  deprived  of  it  only  by  a  judgment  of  the 
superior  administrative  tribunal  of  the  State  to 
which  he  belongs.  As  a  result  of  this,  he  recovers 
his  entire  independence  of  opinion  out  of  office 
hours.  Should  he  belong  to  a  party  in  opposition 
to  the  Government  and  take  an  active  part  in 
politics,  he  will  suffer,  perhaps,  as  regards  pro- 
motion. But  he  will  still  be  protected  against  all 
repressive  measures.  These  liberal  provisions  of 
German  legislation  are  of  a  nature  to  surprise  us. 
They  result  in  leading  the  political  parties,  which 
are  always  short  of  candidates,  to  offer  numerous 
seats  to  men  who,  through  their  experience  in 


132  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

public  affairs,  seem  particularly  apt  for  parliamen- 
tary duties. 

One  must  admit  that  these  members  of  the 
Reichstag  who  are  both  officials  and  deputies  ren- 
der signal  services  both  to  the  country  and  the 
groups  to  which  they  belong.  Here  is  a  curious 
fact.  The  day  after  the  closure  of  each  session, 
these  employees,  who,  the  day  before,  controlled 
the  Government,  are  obliged  to  resume  their  often 
modest  duties  (there  are  teachers  and  postmen 
among  them)  and  to  submit  once  more  to  all  the 
arrogance  of  the  chiefs  immediately  above  them. 

Our  attention  is  attracted  to  another  point  in 
the  above  statistics.  During  the  last  two  legis- 
latures there  were  first  43  and  then  110  Socialist 
members.  Now,  the  1907  Parliament  did  not 
contain  a  single  workingman  member,  whilst  that 
of  1911  only  had  three,  of  whom  two  belonged 
to  the  Centre  and  the  Right.  The  members  of  the 
Extreme  Left  are,  therefore,  almost  all  recruited 
from  the  liberal  professions,  43  of  them  being 
journalists,  7  lawyers,  2  municipal  employees,  and 
37  industrial  employees.  That  explains  how 
Possibilism  and  Imperialism  have  been  able  to 
exercise  such  great  ravages  among  men  the  ma- 
jority of  whom  have  received  a  middle-class 
formation  and  have  never  broken  their  friendly 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  133 

relations  with  their  families  and  the  comrades  of 
their  childhood. 

It  would  be  a  manifest  exaggeration  to  pretend 
that  in  Germany  Socialism  is  the  party  in  which 
all  the  incapables  and  wastrels  take  refuge.  On 
the  contrary,  we  find  a  large  number  of  men  of 
worth  in  the  fraction  of  the  Extreme  Left.  It  is 
also  true  that  the  Socialist  Party  has  largely 
benefited  by  the  exclusiveness  shown  by  the  other 
groups  in  the  choice  of  their  candidates.  One 
day,  one  of  my  friends  expressed  to  the  father  of  a 
CoUectivist  member  his  surprise  at  seeing  this 
young  and  brilliant  writer  throw  himself  heart  and 
soul  into  the  revolutionary  agitation. 

"What  can  you  expect?"  replied  the  excellent 
man,  without  malice.  "My  son  would  certainly 
have  preferred  to  place  his  ability  at  the  service 
of  another  cause  ;  but  he  is  ambitious,  and  he  knew 
that,  being  of  modest  birth  and  having  but  slender 
means  at  his  disposal,  there  was  no  future  for  him 
in  the  bourgeois  groups,  whereas  the  Socialists 
would  be  very  happy  to  have  the  assistance  of  an 
intellectual  man." 

That  is  the  history  of  many  members  of  the 
so-called  Revolutionary  Party.  Especially  is  it 
that  of  the  Jews,  who,  in  Germany,  are  system- 
atically thrust  aside  by  the  middle-class  parties. 

Few  members  of  the  Reichstag  knew  how  to 


134  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

read  the  Budget.  The  majority  never  even  tried 
to  decipher  it.  Miiller-Fulda  used  to  be  im- 
mensely amused  over  this  ignorance. 

"Our  Budget,"  he  said  to  me  one  day,  "is  abso- 
lutely lacking  in  sincerity.  Transfers  of  sums  of 
money  abound  in  it,  and  you  must  be  a  past  master 
in  the  art  of  handling  figures  to  know  where  you 
are.  The  principal  concern  of  our  statesmen  is  to 
hide  from  the  foreigner  the  credits  they  devote 
first  to  military  preparations  and  secondly  to 
propaganda  work,  or,  if  you  like,  to  the  intelli- 
gence department,  to  espionage.  In  our  financial 
Bill  you  will  find  but  a  modest  sum  of  three  mil- 
lions for  our  Secret  Service.  Now,  in  all  the 
chapters  of  the  Budget  are  other  credits  which, 
under  the  most  varied  titles,  are  devoted  to  the 
same  use.  JMoreover,  we  put  our  hands  deeply 
into  the  secret  funds  of  the  other  States." 

Here  I  will  relate  a  personal  anecdote.  Herr 
von  Richthofen,  the  former  Secretary  of  State  for 
Foreign  Affairs,  was  easy  to  approach.  I  often 
conversed  with  him,  and  he  seemed  to  take  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  pleasure  in  meeting  me.  One  day 
he  complained  in  my  presence  of  the  excessive  use 
which  the  English,  in  his  opinion,  made  of  their 
Secret  Service  funds  to  secure  assistance  in  the 
Foreign  Press. 

"WTiy  don't  you  do  the  same?"  I  objected. 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  135 

Taken  quite  unawares,  Herr  von  Richthofen  let 
slip  the  following  significant  confession: 

"Ah!  if  we  only  still  possessed  the  Guelph 
funds." 

The  Guelph  funds  were  the  revenue  of  the  se- 
questrated fortune  of  King  George  of  Hanover. 
This  revenue  was  estimated  at  sixteen  million 
marks.  Now,  a  short  time  before,  the  Prussian 
Government  had  given  the  full  and  entire  posses- 
sion of  it  to  the  Duke  of  Cumberland.  Herr  von 
Richthofen's  thoughtless  exclamation  showed, 
however,  that  before  this  restitution  the  sixteen 
millions  had  been  regularly  used  by  Prussia  in 
corrupting  foreign  newspapers.  It  had  been^ 
necessary  to  reconstitute  this  Secret  Service  fund 
with  the  ordinary  resources  of  the  Budget.  Little 
by  little,  and  by  means  of  skilful  transfers,  they 
had  succeeded. 

But  once  more  I  call  upon  jNIiiller-Fulda  to 
speak. 

"Would  you  like  an  instance,"  he  further  said 
to  me,  "of  the  way  they  proceed  in  our  countiy? 
A  few  years  ago  the  French  artillery  was  consid- 
erably in  advance  of  ours.  Their  new  field  gun 
was  much  superior  to  that  of  the  German  Army. 
What  was  to  be  done?  The  transformation  of 
our  light  artillery  might  have  driven  the  French 
to  profit  by  their  advantage  immediately.     So  the 


136  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

Chancellor  called  together  the  leaders  of  the 
groups  and  addressed  them  as  follows,  'We  have 
a  model  of  a  remarkable  gun.  To  provide  our 
troops  with  it  we  must  dispose  of  a  credit  of  400 
millions.  The  transformation,  however,  must 
take  place  in  the  deepest  secrecy.  Will  you  au- 
thorise me  to  spend  that  sum  of  money  without 
setting  it  down  in  the  Budget?  With  your  con- 
sent, I  will  arrange  the  matter  by  means  of  skilful 
entries.'  No  sooner  said  than  done!  I  will  defy 
you  to  find  a  trace  of  those  400  millions  in  the  four 
Budgets  in  question,  where,  however,  they  are 
indeed  hidden.  Apart  from  the  few  conspirators, 
our  colleagues  noticed  nothing,  and  the  majority 
are  still  in  ignorance  of  the  fact  that  they  voted 
faked  Budgets." 

One  can,  therefore,  affirm  that  in  the  German 
Empire  control  does  not  exist.  The  whole  of 
the  parliamentary  jobbery  is  done  in  the  back 
shop,  where  the  Chancellor,  with  a  few  initiates, 
prepares,  far  from  indiscreet  eyes,  his  question- 
able operations. 

A  few  days  later  that  impenitent  sceptic 
Miiller-Fulda  made  me  acquainted  with  the  prac- 
tices of  the  great  German  banks.  On  expressing 
my  astonishment  at  seeing  the  Berlin  banks  sub- 
scribe 500  millions  to  the  Russian  loan  at  a 
moment  when  the  market  was  very  depressed,  the 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  137 

member  for  the  Centre  burst  out  laughing  and 
confided  in  me  as  follows  : 

"We  have  no  money,  but  we  know  how  to  make 
that  of  others  fructify.  Nominally,  we  subscribe 
to  the  Russian  loan,  but  we  shall  pass  on  the  scrip 
clandestinely  to  our  correspondents  in  London 
and  especially  in  Paris.  We  do  the  same,  more- 
over, with  our  shares  in  the  Bagdad-Ottoman 
Railways.  By  calling  for  the  greater  part,  we 
secure  considerable  political  advantages.  Then, 
when  that  is  done,  we  gradually  get  rid  of  these 
shares,  the  accumulation  of  w^hich  on  our  home 
market  would  represent  a  dead  weight.  What 
is  the  good  of  the  internationalism  of  banking  if 
we  cannot  find  in  it  a  compensation  for  the  ostra- 
cism to  which  our  national  securities  are  subjected 
on  the  Paris  Bourse  and  the  London  Stock  Ex- 
change? A  purely  fictitious  ostracism,  however, 
for  I  can  tell  you  in  confidence  that  more  than 
two  thousand  millions  of  our  State  loans  sleep,  in 
the  form  of  pretty  vignettes,  in  the  safes  of  small 
French  capitalists.  Don't  protest!  Our  secu- 
rities pay  a  high  rate  of  interest,  and  we  give  big 
commissions  to  those  who  place  them." 

It  was  again  ]\Iiiller-Fulda  who,  at  the  time  of 
the  jMoroccan  incidents,  made  the  following  disclo- 
sure to  me: — 

"English  intervention  is  possible.     Our  Gov- 


138  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

ernment,  in  agreement  with  our  shipowners,  has 
foreseen  it.  All  our  captains  who  are  on  long 
voyages  have  been  provided  with  envelopes  con- 
taining secret  orders,  which  they  are  to  open  as 
soon  as  they  are  informed  of  the  imminence  of  a 
declaration  of  war.  They  will  immediately  hoist 
the  United  States  flag  from  their  mainmasts.  In 
fact,  in  case  of  war,  the  Morgan  Syndicate  is  the 
purchaser  of  the  whole  of  our  merchant  fleet  at  a 
figure  already  agreed  upon." 

I  do  not  know  whether  this  agreement  was  ever 
really  made  with  the  American  capitalists.  But 
the  declarations  of  Miiller-Fulda,  the  best-in- 
formed man  in  the  Reichstag,  prove  that  it  had 
been  seriously  thought  of  in  the  Governmental 
circles  of  Berlin,  and  that,  from  that  period,  they 
foresaw  near  and  serious  difficulties  with  Great 
Britain. 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  139 


CHAPTER  VII 

Militarism  in  German  Politics 

In  the  Tribune — The  Parties — Erzberger — "En  Famille" — 
The  Tariff — Dissolutions. 

The  first  time  I  wanted  to  speak  in  the  Reichstag 
I  had  a  painful  surprise.  On  the  list  of  speakers, 
in  the  possession  of  the  secretary,  I  occupied  the 
third  place.  Now,  ten  members  mounted  into  the 
tribune  before  me  and  I  had  to  wait  two  days  be- 
fore I  was  able  to  deliver  my  little  speech. 

Here  is  the  explanation  of  this  phenomenon. 
The  rules  of  the  House  indeed  provide  for  mem- 
bers speaking  in  the  order  of  their  inscription,  but 
the  rules,  in  this  respect  as  in  many  others,  are 
constantly  broken.  A  member  of  the  Reichstag 
does  not  exist  individually;  only  the  group  to 
which  he  is  attached  is  taken  into  consideration. 
It  is  the  custom,  therefore,  for  the  Parliamentary 
fractions,  each  in  its  turn,  to  delegate  to  the 
tribune  one  of  its  members  in  the  numerical  order 
of  the  groups. 

In  1898  the  speaker  of  the  Centre  came  first, 
and  after  him,  in  succession,  those  of  the  Conserv- 


140  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

atives,  the  National-Liberals,  the  Socialists,  the 
Imperial  Party,  the  two  principal  Democratic 
groups,  the  Anti-Semites,  the  Jews,  the  Alsace- 
Lorrainers,  and  finally  the  Popular  Party  of 
Wurtemberg.  If  the  debate  was  not  concluded 
after  this  first  procession  of  orators,  they  came  to 
what  the  Germans  call  "the  second  garnishing," 
but  always  keeping  strictly  to  the  same  order. 

I  would  also  add  (and  this  detail  is  important) 
that,  in  the  Parliamentary  fractions,  the  principal 
speaker  and  the  speakers  who,  should  it  so  happen, 
speak  a  second  and  a  third  time  are  chosen  by  the 
directing  committees  and  bound  to  submit  the  text 
of  their  speeches  to  them.  Very  rarely,  and  only 
at  the  end  of  a  sitting,  is  a  member  who  has  serious 
reasons  for  separating  himself  from  his  political 
friends  over  a  question  of  local  interest  authorised 
to  express  a  few  timid  reservations.  In  this  case, 
he  must  also  suffer  the  severe  censorship  of  his 
leaders. 

How  is  it  that  German  members  of  Parliament 
can  accept  such  servitude?  The  reason  is  very 
simple.  German  political  parties  are  endowed 
with  a  wholly  military  organisation.  The  enlisted 
elector  does  not  give  his  vote  to  a  man  but  to  a 
programme.  He  has  blind  faith  in  the  decisions 
of  the  committee  of  his  district,  which  itself  ac- 
cepts the  orders  of  the  central  committee,  almost 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  141 

without  discussing  them.  It  is,  therefore,  this  last 
committee  which  decides  on  the  choice  of  candi- 
dates and  gives  them  their  investiture. 

Henceforth,  the  dependence  of  the  elected  mem- 
ber is  absolute.  If  he  does  not  give  proofs  of 
absolute  submission,  he  knows  that  he  runs  the 
risk  of  losing  his  seat  through  the  will  of  his 
chiefs.  But  if,  on  the  contrary,  he  obeys  at  a 
sign,  his  re-election  is  assured. 

The  organisation  of  the  parties  is  so  rigid  that 
one  can  foretell  precisely  the  number  of  votes  at 
their  disposal  in  each  constituency.  The  Centre, 
for  instance,  cannot  be  beaten  in  any  of  its  ninety- 
two  strongholds,  the  Socialists  dispose  of  forty-six 
assured  seats,  and  the  Conservatives  of  sixty.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  National-Liberals  have  only 
a  very  limited  number  of  rotten  boroughs,  and 
the  Democrats  hardly  any.  Both  are  able  to 
maintain  the  number  of  their  seats  only  by  elec- 
toral compromises  entered  into  with  other  groups. 

According  as  the  Liberal  Parties  contract,  at 
the  general  elections,  an  alliance  with  the  Right  or 
the  Left,  the  number  of  Socialist  seats  exceeds  a 
hundred  or  falls  to  fifty. 

However  that  may  be,  these  agreements,  made 
by  the  central  committees,  possess  an  obligatory 
and  imperative  character  for  the  parties.  This 
always  leads  to  the  same  result,  namely,  that  indi- 


142  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

vidually  the  fate  of  candidates  is  in  the  hands  of 
the  prime  movers  of  the  poHtical  organisations, 
and  that  the  unfortunate  deputies  are  obhged,  in 
order  to  obtain  the  official  support  of  their  leaders, 
to  renounce  all  independence. 

The  aged  Marbe,  member  for  Friburg-en- 
Brisgau — an  honest  man  if  ever  there  was  one — 
often  used  to  say  to  me: 

"I  beg  you  never  to  consent  to  belong  to  the 
Centre.  I  belong  to  it — and  for  how  many  years 
past!  I  suffer  horribly  through  being  obliged  to 
vote  in  favour  of  Bills  of  which  I  disapprove. 
Our  high  priests  dispose  of  us  as  though  we  were 
mere  cattle.  Our  votes  are  sold  to  the  highest 
bidder,  and  they  regard  it  as  our  duty  to  sustain 
the  market.  Sometimes  I  have  tried  to  protest.,  at 
the  meetings  of  the  fraction,  against  combinations 
which  supremely  displeased  me.  They  always 
pointed  out  to  me  that  I  was  too  late,  for  the 
compromise  had  already  been  agreed  upon  by  our 
diplomatists." 

Marbe  was  right.  A  hundred,  nay,  a  thousand 
times  have  I  heard  the  echo  of  similar  complaints. 
Discipline  was,  however,  stronger  than  these  re- 
volts in  the  name  of  commonsense  and  honesty. 
Miiller-Fulda,  of  whom  I  have  several  times 
spoken,  spent  his  time  harshly  criticising  the  de- 
cisions of  Lieber  and   Spahn.     Never,  however. 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  143 

did  he  openly  combat  them,  and  at  a  plenary  sit- 
ting he  voted  in  their  favour.  The  satirical  smile 
with  which  he  then  coupled  his  action  only  made 
his  abdication  more  humiliating. 
'  A  few  rare  and  ambitious  men  succeeded,  how- 
ever, in  intimidating  the  great  leaders.  One  of 
them  was  Erzberger. 

Mathias  Erzberger  is  a  big  fellow  with  a  smart 
and  vulgar  face.  He  is  in  every  way  rotund — 
cheeks,  body,  arms,  etc.  On  seeing  him  for  the 
first  time,  nobody  would  guess  that  this  mass  of 
unhealthy-looking  fat  enveloped  a  most  head- 
strong mind.  When,  however,  you  hear  his 
rattle-like  voice  utter  aphorisms  in  an  imperative 
tone,  doubt  is  no  longer  permissible — big  Mathias 
know^s  what  he  wants  and  speaks  out  energetically. 

A  humble  teacher  of  Wurtemberg,  he  first  of 
all  threw  himself  heart  and  soul  into  the  anti- 
clerical movement.  He  was  not  long,  however, 
in  discovering  that  the  Catholic  Centre  would 
assure  him  a  more  brilliant  future  than  the  Democ- 
racy. At  a  day's  notice  he  turned  his  coat.  His 
former  adversaries,  who  had  been  able  to  appre- 
ciate his  worth,  opened  wide  their  arms  to  him. 
In  1903  Erzberger,  then  barely  twenty-eight  years 
of  age,  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Reichstag. 

Hardly  had  he  taken  his  seat  in  Parliament 
when  he  laid  siege  to  the  committee  of  his  party. 


144  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

Already  taught  by  experience,  he  made  himself 
insupportable  to  Spahn,  whose  policy  inside  the 
fraction  he  fiercely  combated.  The  case  was  an 
embarrassing  one.  To  strike  the  wolfling  would 
perhaps  have  raised  a  scandal.  "Was  it  not  bet- 
ter to  tame  him?"  Although  this  sacrifice  was 
particularly  painful  to  him,  Spahn  decided  to 
offer  a  seat  on  the  committee  of  the  fraction  to  his 
hot-headed  opponent.  He  was  exceedingly  com- 
fortable there,  for,  from  the  day  on  which  Erz- 
berger  became  one  of  the  leading  members  of  the 
Centre,  there  was  never  a  single  instance  of  weak- 
ness in  his  governmentalism. 

The  young  member  of  the  Catholic  Party  has 
no  convictions,  but  only  appetites.  A  prodigious 
worker,  and  gifted  with  an  extraordinary  mem- 
ory, he  has  been  able  to  make  himself  redoubtable 
to  the  Chancellor  through  his  deep  knowledge  of 
the  Budget.  He  is  scandalised  less  than  anyone 
by  the  inaccuracies  he  has  discovered  in  it;  but  he 
knows  how  to  make  use  of  them  to  blackmail  the 
members  of  the  Government.  His  tactics  to- 
wards the  Chancellor  are  the  very  same  as  those 
he  has  employed  to  overcome  the  resistance  of  his 
file-leaders.  "Beware!"  he  seems  to  say  to  those 
who  will  not  accept  his  summonses.  "I  know  a 
good  lot  and  can  cause  you  the  most  serious  em- 
barrassments."    And,    indeed,    in    questions    of 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  145 

detail,  he  proves  himself  so  well  informed  and 
sometimes  provokes  such  stormy  debates  that,  in 
order  to  muzzle  him  on  the  occasion  of  more  seri- 
ous business,  they  grant  him  everything  he  wants. 
When  faced  by  obstinate  opposition,  this  terrible  ^ 
man  does  not  flinch  before  the  worst  conflicts. 
He  it  was  who,  in  1906,  brought  about  the  disso- 
lution of  the  Reichstag.  Later,  he  caused  the 
retreat  of  Secretary  of  State  Dernburg,  who, 
however,  had  the  reputation  of  being  afraid  of  no 
one,  not  even  of  the  Chancellor  and  the  Emperor. 

Erzberger  aspires  (as  everyone  knows  in  the 
Reichstag)  to  be  head  of  the  German 
Colonial  Administration.  In  the  meanwhile, 
he  has  taken  part  in  certain  business  trans- 
actions which  have  brought  him  a  large  fortune. 
His  opponents  even  contend  that  he  will  end  in 
compromising  himself  in  some  shady  affair  or 
other.  Perhaps  they  are  not  far  out;  for  already 
in  the  Vereinsbank  smash  and  in  that  of  the  real 
estate  agent  Jahn  the  member  for  the  Centre  nar- 
rowly escaped  serious  trouble. 

I  used  to  go  to  the  Reichstag  about  eight  o'clock 
every  morning  to  read  the  newspapers  and  write 
my  articles.  Erzberger  got  there  regularly  half 
an  hour  later.  Alone,  at  two  adjoining  tables, 
we  worked  away;  and  thus  I  had  often  an  oppor- 


146  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

tunity  of  conversing  with  him.  Now,  this  is  what 
he  proposed  to  me  one  day: 

"I  am  acquainted,"  he  said,  "with  a  plan  for 
the  construction  of  a  canal  and  the  establishment 
of  a  large  commercial  port  north  of  Berlin.  The 
land  where  the  works  will  be  executed  can  be 
bought  for  an  old  song  and  will  increase  in  value 
a  hundredfold.  The  purchase,  however,  must  be 
made  rapidly  and  quietly.  Do  you  know  any 
Parisian  capitalists  who  might  place  three  millions 
at  the  disposal  of  my  syndicate?  If  the  affair 
comes  off,  there  will  be  10,000  marks  for  you." 

"That  doesn't  interest  me,"  I  replied.  "Even 
if  you  spoke  of  commission,  I  shouldn't  touch  that 
affair." 

Erzberger  seemed  very  surprised  at  my 
scruples.  Nevertheless,  I  consented  to  place  him 
in  relations  with  one  of  my  financial  friends.  I 
wanted  to  discover  his  methods  of  procedure.  I 
was  lucky.  My  friend  communicated  Erzberger 's 
letters  to  me.  They  were  extremely  instructive. 
The  deal  did  not  come  off,  because  the  member  for 
the  Centre  demanded  from  the  Parisian  syndicate, 
before  the  signing  of  the  contract,  a  commission 
of  150,000  marks.  I  had  attained  my  object. 
Henceforth  I  knew  my  colleague's  character. 

Erzberger  has  no  nobility  of  feeling.  He 
affects  rude  manners.     His  coarse  laughter  is  re- 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  147 

pugnant.  How  it  is  that  the  Chancellor,  during 
the  present  war,  entrusted  this  big,  awkward 
fellow  with  the  most  difficult  diplomatic  missions 
I  cannot  for  the  life  of  me  understand.  At  Rome, 
in  that  society  of  the  Vatican  where  diplomacy  is 
conducted  so  subtly  and  so  discreetly,  this  fat 
German  must  have  provoked  terror  by  his  man- 
ners— those  of  a  peasant  of  the  Danube. 

At  the  time  of  Erzberger's  arrival  at  the 
Reichstag,  JVIiiller-Fulda  guessed  that  he  could 
make  the  ambitious  young  man  the  instrument  of 
his  hatred.  He  monopolised  him.  Every  morn- 
ing the  two  conspirators,  standing  in  the  recess 
of  a  window  of  the  writing-room,  conversed  in  a 
low  voice,  and,  judging  by  the  expressions  on 
their  faces,  one  could  tell  that  they  were  concoct- 
ing the  blackest  of  plots. 

Those  who  have  not  assiduously  followed,  as 
I  have  done,  the  sittings  of  the  Reichstag,  at  the 
time  when  the  number  of  those  attending  rarely 
exceeded  sixty,  have  but  a  very  imperfect  knowl- 
edge of  the  mechanism  of  German  Parliamentary 
institutions.  Later,  after  the  voting  of  the  Par- 
liamentary indemnity,  the  lobbies  were  crowded, 
and  it  became  more  difficult  to  watch  over  the 
manœuvres  behind  the  scenes.  Until  1907  every- 
thing happened  in  the  family  circle  and  almost  in 
the  light  of  day. 


148  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

If,  at  that  time,  I  went  so  often  to  Berlin,  it 
was  because,  as  a  journalist,  I  found  there  the 
best  and  surest  information.  My  colleagues  of 
Alsace-Lorraine  often  joked  about  what  they  con- 
sidered was  excessive  zeal  on  my  part.  And  yet 
those  repeated  sojourns  in  an  almost  deserted 
Reichstag  have  rendered  me  the  greatest  service 
by  enabling  me  to  penetrate  deeper  into  the 
German  soul. 

Only  once  during  those  years  did  the  Reichstag 
present  a  scene  of  extraordinary  animation.  The 
special  committee  appointed  to  revise  the  tariff 
had  with  great  difficulty  come  to  an  understand- 
ing. The  Bill  had  got  to  be  passed  at  a  plenary 
sitting.  Now  the  Right,  the  Centre,  and  some  of 
the  National-Liberals,  desirous  above  all  of  pro- 
tecting German  agriculture  against  the  influx  of 
foreign  cereals,  were  in  direct  and  irreducible  op- 
position to  the  parties  of  the  Left,  who  were  in 
favour  of  cheap  bread. 

The  struggle  was  an  epic  one.  The  heads  of 
the  fractions  had  mobilised  all  their  troops.  For 
three  days  (a  spectacle  until  then  unknown)  the 
number  of  those  present  reached  and  even  ex- 
ceeded three  hundred.  However,  as  the  debates 
were  prolonged  there  was  a  falling  off  in  the 
attendance.  During  a  fortnight,  the  anxious 
leaders  sent  an  express  messenger  every  half-hour 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  149 

to  the  cloak-room  to  count  the  hats  and  see  if 
there  was  still  a  quorum. 

The  Socialists,  anticipating  the  fatigue  of  the 
majority,  endeavoured  to  prolong  the  discussion 
indefinitely.  At  each  clause  of  the  tariff  (and 
there  were  more  than  nine  hundred)  they  dele- 
gated to  the  tribune  one  of  the  most  verbose  and 
most  diffuse  of  their  speakers — Heyne,  David, 
Antrick,  or,  especially,  Stadthagen. 

The  last-named  could  easily  speak  for  five  hours 
at  a  stretch.  I  recollect  seeing  him  one  day  in 
the  lobbies,  sitting  at  a  table  on  which  lay  innu- 
merable sheets  of  a  transcript  of  the  shorthand 
notes  of  his  speech — a  transcript  which  he  had  to 
correct  hastily. 

"A  just  punishment,"  I  remarked  to  him,  "for 
having  bored  us  during  half  the  sitting." 

Stadthagen's  faun-like  face  lit  up  with  a  broad 
smile. 

"You  don't  know  all,  my  dear  colleague,"  he 
replied.  "Did  you  notice  that  when  I  ascended  to 
the  tribune  I  had  a  huge  pile  of  books  under  my 
arm?  It  happened  that  I  borrowed  a  series  of 
long  quotations  from  them.  Now,  when  a 
speaker  begins  to  read,  our  stenographers  point 
their  pencils  towards  the  sky,  after  writing  the 
fatal  word  inseratur.  But  for  the  life  of  me  I 
cannot  find  the  quotations  I  made  at  hazard!" 


150  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

When  a  clause  of  a  Bill  under  discussion  no 
longer  permitted  the  debates  to  be  dragged  out, 
the  Socialists  asked  to  speak  on  the  application  of 
the  rules.  We  then  had  to  submit  to  endless 
speeches  on  the  insufficient  heating  of  the  House, 
or  on  the  draughts  which  made  it  uninhabitable. 

Heyne,  who  had  not  the  reputation,  however,  of 
being  a  disagreeable  joker,  spent  an  hour  counting 
the  doors  of  the  House.     We  became  furious. 

The  Socialists  imagined  still  another  trick  for 
retarding  the  decisive  votes.  For  each  clause  of 
the  Bill,  as  for  each  of  the  amendments  they  pre- 
sented, they  demanded  the  nominal  vote.  Now, 
at  that  time,  this  vote  was  taken  by  the  secretaries 
calling  out  the  names  of  the  members,  who  re- 
j)lied  by  a  "Yes"  or  a  "No."  Before  resuming 
the  debates,  it  was  necessary  to  have  a  recapitula- 
tion. Thirty-five  to  forty  minutes  were  wasted 
over  this. 

In  order  to  put  a  stop  to  this  obstruction,  the 
rules  had  to  be  changed.  Since  then  the  nominal 
vote  is  taken  bj^  means  of  different  coloured  voting 
papers  (white:  yes;  red:  no;  blue:  abstention). 
Moreover,  it  was  decided  that  the  speeches  calling 
for  an  application  of  the  rules  must  not  exceed 
five  minutes.  Three  days  more  were  lost  in  get- 
ting these  modifications  voted. 

At  last,  to  put  an  end  to  the  situation,  Kardorff 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  151 

proposed  the  adoption  in  the  lump  of  the  five  hun- 
dred clauses  which  had  not  yet  been  voted.  This 
motion  brought  about  a  veritable  storm.  Singer 
was  expelled  for  having  tried  to  force  his  way  into 
the  tribune.  A  very  little  more  and  they  would 
have  come  to  blows.  The  leaders  of  the  groups 
grew  very  anxious.  It  became  more  and  more 
difficult  to  maintain  the  number  of  those  attend- 
ing, the  amateur  deputies  refusing  to  stay  in  Ber- 
lin merely  to  attend  irritating  and  sterile  debates. 
So  it  was  decided  to  sit  in  permanence.  It  was 
a  Saturday.  The  sitting  opened  at  nine  a.m.  It 
ended  the  next  morning  at  four.  At  seven  p.m. 
food  and  drink  gave  out. 

For  this  last  battle  they  had  succeeded  in  as- 
sembling nearly  three  hundred  members.  Now, 
the  instructions  they  had  received  were  peremp- 
tory. Nobody  was  to  leave  the  Reichstag,  not 
even  for  an  hour,  for  the  Socialists  might  at  any 
moment  demand  a  nominal  vote.  There  were, 
in  fact,  eighty  of  these  nominal  votes  during  the 
da5\  At  four  in  the  afternoon  the  Socialist 
Antrick  mounted  into  the  tribune.  He  was  still 
there  at  midnight.  In  order  to  keep  up  his 
strength,  his  colleagues  brought  him  grog  after 
grog,  in  which  the  yolks  of  eggs  had  been  beaten 
up.  Every  quarter  of  an  hour  the  speaker  closed 
his  portfolios  and  uttered  a  few  phrases  intended 


152  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

merely  for  effect  and  which  led  the  members  of 
the  Executive  to  believe  that  he  was  about  to  con- 
clude his  speech.  Immediately  the  division  bell 
sounded  throughout  the  Palace,  whereupon  there 
was  a  wild  rush  of  members  who  feared  they  would 
arrive  too  late  to  vote.  I  must  confess  that  that 
night  I  had,  for  the  first  time  in  my  life,  thoughts 
of  murder. 

At  last,  at  four  a.m.,  the  final  vote  took  place, 
amidst  the  prolonged  cheering  of  the  Right  and 
the  hooting  of  the  Left.  Before  going  home  to 
take  our  well-earned  rest,  twenty  of  us  went  to 
the  Chapel  of  the  Sisters  of  St.  Charles  to  attend 
Mass.  Now,  I  was  destined  not  to  sleep  that  day. 
For  at  seven  o'clock,  just  as  I  was  beginning  to 
drop  off,  there  came  a  loud  knock  at  my  door. 
It  was  one  of  the  little  boy  attendants  of  the  hotel, 
who,  thinking  he  would  please  me,  had  come  with 
the  special  editions  of  the  newspapers  announcing 
the  great  news.  I  came  near  to  strangling  the 
poor  little  fellow. 

'^  he  next  day  the  Reichstag  assumed  once  more 
its  dreary  and  abandoned  appearance.  It  was 
not  full  again  until  the  time  came  for  the  debates 
on  colonial  policy  which,  in  1906,  brought  about 
the  dissolution  of  the  Assembly.  These  dissolu- 
tions were  periodical.  Bismarck  had  recourse  to 
them  thrice  when  Parliament  refused  to  grant  him 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  153 

military  credits.  The  German  people,  however, 
always  sent  him  back  majorities  that  were  more 
supple.  Let  those  who  trj^  to  establish  an  arbi- 
trai y  distinction  between  the  German  nation  and 
those  who  govern  it  kindly  remember  that  fact. 
Dernburg  was,  in  his  turn,  to  triumph  in  1906 
over  the  opposition  of  Erzberger.  The  Centre 
and  the  parties  of  the  Left  were  again  decimated, 
whilst  the  Conservatives  and  the  National-Liber- 
als saw  the  number  of  their  seats  increase  in  an  un- 
hoped-for fashion. 

German  Chancellors  readily  make  use  of  the 
threat  of  a  dissolution.  How  many  times  I  have 
heard  said  in  the  lobbies,  "Prince  von  Biilow  (or 
Herr  von  Bethmann-IIoUweg)  arrived  a  short 
time  ago  carrying  the  red  portfolio  (die  rothe 
Mappe)  under  his  arm."  This  portfolio  is  re- 
served for  Imperial  decrees.  Generally,  it  needed 
nothing  more  to  bring  the  opposition  to  an  agree- 
ment. I  am  even  very  much  inclined  to  think 
that,  very  often,  the  party  leaders,  whose  compro- 
mises had  not  met  with  the  approval  of  their  col- 
leagues, made  use,  in  accord  with  the  Chancellor, 
of  the  expedient  of  the  red  portfolio  to  overcome 
the  last  resistance  of  their  respective  fractions. 
The  dissolution  of  the  Reichstag  always,  indeed, 
brings  about  a  considerable  change  in  the  composi- 
tion of  the  House.     After  my  sixteen  years  in 


154  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

Berlin,  I  was  one  of  the  hundred  or  so  deputies 
whose  mandates  had  been  constantly  renewed.  At 
the  opening  of  each  legislature  we  found  ourselves 
in  the  company  of  150  to  200  new  colleagues,  mere 
supernumeraries  for  the  most  part,  for  very  few 
among  them  succeeded  in  penetrating  the  direct- 
ing committees  of  their  party  on  which  the  im- 
movables, or  "immortals,"  sat. 

Twice  I  heard  the  JChancellor  ask  to  speak  at 
the  opening  of  the  sitting  and  pronounce  the  de- 
cisive formula,  "I  am  ordered  to  communicate  to 
the  Assembly  an  important  message  from  His 
Majesty."  And  in  the  midst  of  the  most  impres- 
sive silence,  the  highest  official  of  the  Empire  an- 
nounced to  us  that  the  Reichstag  no  longer  existed. 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  155 


CHAPTER  VIII 

The  Emperor  and  Parliament 

William  II — Prince  von  Biilow. 

At  the  end  of  each  legislature  the  President  called 
for  cheers  for  the  Emperor.  Formerly  the  So- 
cialists remained  in  their  seats,  whilst  the  majority- 
uttered  the  three  formidable  "Hochsl"  which  em- 
ptiasised  its  loyalty.  Every  time  this  silent  dem- 
onstration on  the  part  of  the  Extreme  Left  pro- 
voked indignant  protests  from  the  Conservatives. 
Later,  the  Socialists  showed  themselves  more  ac- 
commodating. Like  the  members  for  Alsace- 
Lorraine,  they  left  the  House  when  the  psycholog- 
ical moment  came.  The  President's  complaisance 
even  went  to  the  extent  of  a  motion  with  his  head 
in  order  to  avoid  giving  them  a  painful  surprise. 
In  1911  a  few  Socialists  did  better.  They  re- 
mained in  the  House  and  rose  from  their  seats. 
Did  they  join  in  the  "Hoch!  Hoch!  Hoch!"  of  the 
other  parties?  I  was  never  able  to  find  out. 
Again,  the  successive  attitudes  of  the  Extreme 
Left  as  regards  this  question  of  etiquette  clearly 


156  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

show  the  evolution  of  a  party  which  formerly 
called  itself  Republican,  but  which,  since  the  be- 
ginning of  the  war,  has  declared  itself  decidedly 
Monarchical. 

A  curious  incident  will  also  show  us  to  what  an 
extent  the  Imperial  Parliament  was  lacking  in  en- 
ergy. A  certain  disagreement  had  arisen  between 
the  Government  and  the  majority  à  propos  of  a 
Colonial  credit.  At  that  time  the  Rhenish  manu- 
facturer Stumm  belonged  to  the  Reichstag,  where 
he  played  the  part  of  the  man  behind  the  Chan- 
cellor. Indeed  Stumm,  who  was  often  received 
by  the  Emperor,  was  regarded  as  the  inspirer  of 
the  reactionary  policy  of  Prussia.  Now,  whilst 
the  Parliamentary  battle  was  at  its  height  in  the 
lobbies,  Stumm,  on  his  return  from  the  Imperial 
Palace,  informed  us  that  William  II,  furious  at 
the  opposition  to  the  Bill,  had  said  to  him,  speaic- 
ing  of  the  Imperial  Parliament,  "I  will  cinish  this 
herd  of  swine"  {diese  Schweinehande"),  Else- 
where, this  vulgar  insult  would  have  provoked  a 
revolt.  But  at  the  Reichstag  it  produced  an  as- 
suaging effect.  A  few  Independents  of  the  Left 
doubtless  considered  that  the  Emperor  had  gone 
too  far;  but  the  other  members,  fearing  a  serious 
conflict,  hastened  to  give  satisfaction  to  the  irri- 
tated Sovereign. 

Several  times,  in  1902  and  1903, 1  met  the  Em- 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  157 

peror  in  the  Thiergarten,  walking  rapidly  in  the 
most  frequented  alleys  with  an  orderly  officer.  It 
did  not  look  as  though  special  steps  had  been  taken 
to  watch  over  the  Sovereign's  safety.  The  Kaiser 
stared  with  his  hard  eyes  at  the  promenaders  whom 
he  met  and  responded  to  their  respectful  saluta- 
tions by  negligently  raising  two  fingers  to  his 
white  cap. 

Later,  William  II  decided  to  give  up  these 
walks.  He  no  longer  went  through  the  parks 
and  along  the  streets  of  Berlin  except  in  a  motor- 
car. As  soon  as  the  Emperor's  yellow  carriage 
was  signalled,  policemen  stopped  the  traffic  and 
forced  the  passers-by  to  get  on  to  the  foot  pave- 
ments. The  car  passed  at  a  speed  of  forty  miles 
an  hour  in  the  midst  of  a  crowd  which  caught  but 
a  glimpse  of  the  cowardly  monarch. 

William  II  is,  in  fact,  haunted  by  the  fear  of 
death.  As  soon  as  any  person  about  him  feels  the 
slightest  uneasiness,  he  or  she  is  immediately  re- 
moved from  the  Court  until  completelj'^  cured. 
When,  in  the  course  of  his  numerous  journeys,  it 
is  reported  to  the  Emperor  that  cases  of  infectious 
disease  have  been  notified  in  one  of  the  towns  he 
is  to  visit,  the  programme  of  receptions  is  imme- 
diately altered.  If  the  harmful  microbes  ever 
reach  the  Sovereign  it  will  not  be  through  lack  of 
precautions  to  keep  them  from  him. 


158  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

Presentation  to  the  Emperor  has  been  proposed 
to  me  three  times. 

"Nothing  will  please  me  better,"  I  have  replied 
each  time;  "but  I  have  a  condition  to  make.  I 
shall  tell  the  Emperor  all  I  have  on  my  mind." 

"That  is  impossible,"  I  was  told.  "The  proto- 
col requires  you  merely  to  reply  to  the  questions 
asked  by  the  Sovereign." 

"Very  well,  in  that  case  I  prefer  not  to  be  re- 
ceived by  him." 

The  Germans  could  not  for  the  life  of  them  un- 
derstand my  stubbornness,  they  who,  to  have  the 
honour  of  pressing  the  hand  of  their  master,  would 
accept  in  advance  the  worst  insults. 

I  was  well  inspired  in  avoiding  any  interview 
with  the  brutal  fellow  who  presides  over  the  des- 
tiny of  the  German  people.  Here  is  the  proof. 
In  1913  the  Alsace-Lorraine  Parliament  de- 
cided, in  order  to  show  its  dissatisfaction  over  the 
Zabem  affair,  to  reduce  the  Statthalter's  allow- 
ance by  half  (100,000  marks  instead  of  200,000). 
A  short  time  afterwards  William  II  came  to 
Strassburg,  and  a  grand  reception  was  organised 
in  his  honour  in  the  salons  of  the  Secretary  of 
State.     Dr.  Ricklin  was  present. 

Prince  von  Wedel  had  asked  the  President  of 
the  Second  Chamber  to  stand  near  him,  so  that  he 
could    introduce    him    to    the    Emperor.     The 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  159 

presentation  took  place.  The  Emperor,  riding 
his  high  horse  and  staring  still  harder,  exclaimed, 
in  a  cutting  voice: 

"Ah!  so  you  are  the  President  of  those  who 
have  placed  my  Statthalter  on  short  commons? 
See  that  you  do  better  next  year!" 

Whereupon  he  turned  on  his  heels.  Dr.  Rick- 
lin  went  and  complained  to  Baron  von  Bulach  of 
this  piece  of  impertinence.  The  Secretary  of 
State  promised  to  calm  the  Emperor,  and  towards 
the  end  of  the  evening  attempted  to  do  so. 

"Sire,"  he  said,  "the  President  of  the  Chamber 
is  grieved  by  the  recej^tion  you  reserved  for  him. 
Cannot  you  say  a  few  kind  words  to  him?" 

"Not  to-day!"  replied  William  II,  brutally. 

There  you  have  the  man  in  his  real  colours — 
the  military  brute  who  will  accept  no  contradiction 
and  considers  he  has  a  right  to  lash  those  whom  he 
thinks  are  incapable  of  defending  themselves. 
How  different  from  the  amiable,  smiling  Sover- 
eign whose  delightful  portraits  have  been  drawn 
for  us  by  foreign  tourists  ! 

The  Emperor's  capricious  temper  was  known 
and  feared  at  the  Reichstag.  How  many  times  I 
have  heard  the  members  of  the  Government  and 
the  party  leaders  threaten  us  with  the  anger  of 
William  II! 

With  some  of  his  familiars,  the  German  ruler 


160  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

kno\^'s,  however,  how  to  lay  aside  all  constraint. 
Two  Alsatians  had  thus  won  his  good  graces: 
Baron  von  Bulach,  son  of  a  Chamberlain  of  Na- 
poleon III,  who  was  made  a  Minister  through  an 
Imperial  caprice,  and  Baron  von  Schmid,  that 
French  quartermaster  whom  William  II  pro- 
moted, one  fine  morning,  major  of  a  regiment  of 
the  Guard,  to  the  great  scandal  of  all  the  officers. 

Both  secured  the  favours  of  the  Sovereign  by- 
relating  to  him  those  little  scandals  and  stories  of 
the  guard-house  of  which  William  II  is  so  fond 
when  he  consents  to  lay  aside  his  arrogance. 

William  II  is  and  will  remain  an  enigma  for 
future  historians.  The  contradictory  attitudes  of 
this  eternal  weathercock  are  disconcerting.  He 
has  been  seen  to  wave,  with  the  same  apparent  con- 
viction, the  torch  of  war  and  the  olive  branch  of 
peace.  He  seems  to  be  fond  of  nothing  but  uni- 
forms and  grand  military  spectacles,  until,  sud- 
denly, he  reveals  himself  in  the  character  of  a  hum- 
drum bourgeois,  desirous  above  all  of  transacting 
a  few  good  business  deals. 

He  cannot  keep  still.  Nature  has  also  afflicted 
him  with  an  intemperance  of  language  which 
throws  his  collaborators  into  a  state  of  despair. 
The  Imperial  busybody  knows  nothing,  studies 
nothing,  and  listens  to  no  one.  When  the  Chan- 
cellor, or  one  of  his  Secretaries  of  State,  comes  to 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  161 

read  a  report,  he  has  not  got  further  than  the  sec- 
ond sentence  before  William  II  interrupts  and 
tries  to  dazzle  him  with  his  foolish  theories.  Herr 
von  Posadowsky,  Secretary  of  State  at  the  Home 
Office,  a  serious  and  wonderfully  well-informed 
man,  used  to  allow  the  flood  of  intemperate  lan- 
guage to  pass  by,  and  then  quietly  resume  his 
statement  at  the  point  where  he  had  had  to  leave 
off.  Furious  at  this,  William  II  used  then  to 
amuse  himself  by  making  his  two  fox  terriers  pass 
in  and  out  between  the  Minister's  legs,  until  Posa- 
dowsky, weary  of  this  fooling,  closed  his  port- 
folios and  asked  permission  to  withdraw.  One 
fine  morning,  Herr  von  Posadowsky,  whose  uni- 
versal knowledge  seemed  to  fit  him  for  the  post 
held  by  Prince  von  Biilow,  received  a  visit  from 
Herr  von  Valentini,  the  chief  of  the  Civil  Cabinet, 
who  handed  him  the  famous  "blue  letter"  inform- 
ing statesmen  that  the  hour  of  their  "voluntary" 
resignation  had  struck.  There  was  general  sur- 
prise in  the  Reichstag.  William  II's  fox  terriers 
alone  could  have  told  us  the  cause  of  this  unex- 
pected disgrace. 

Nevertheless,  Chancellors  knew  how  to  utilise 
the  Sovereign's  deambulatoiy  mania  and  prolixity. 
Every  time  that  German  diplomacy  came  in  con- 
tact with  serious  difficulties,  the  Emperor  was 
begged  to  pack  his  trunks  and  visit  foreign  Sover- 


162  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

eigns.  William  II  has  been  seen  in  almost  every 
capital,  where  he  did  his  best  to  captivate  the 
Court,  whilst  his  Minister  was  baiting  advanta- 
geous conventions.  What  would  the  German  Em- 
peror not  have  given  to  be  able  to  come  to  Paris? 
This  was  the  unrealised  dream  of  his  reign.  Every 
time  that  his  advances  toward  the  Government  of 
the  Republic  were  unavailing,  William  II 
wreaked  his  anger  on  the  people  of  Alsace-Lor- 
raine. Consequently,  we  feared  above  everything 
else  those  friendly  telegrams  with  which  period- 
ically he  used  to  overwhelm  French  statesmen. 
We  knew  beforehand  that  they  would  be  paid  for 
by  us  in  the  form  of  fresh  persecutions. 

William  II  was  to  find  a  less  complaisant 
Reichstag  during  the  historic  days  of  November, 
1908.  But  before  speaking  of  that  tragic  occa- 
sion, I  will  stop  to  draw  the  portrait  of  the  man 
who  was  the  principal  actor — Prince  von  Biilow. 

Bernard  von  Biilow  was  born  under  a  lucky 
star.  Kind  fairies  gave  him  both  suppleness  of 
mind  and  the  gift  of  speech.  Entering  the  Diplo- 
matic Service  when  quite  young,  he  was  to  meet 
with  nothing  but  success.  Wherever  he  went — 
Paris,  London,  St.  Petersburg,  and  especially 
Rome — ^he  was  feted,  petted,  adulated.  The  Ger- 
man diplomat  cut  a  fine  figure,  spoke  several  lan- 
guages with  ease,  and  exhibited  flashes  of  wit 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  163 

which  were  repeated  right  and  left.  A  great 
reader,  he  could  discourse  agreeably  on  all  sorts 
of  subjects — literature,  history,  political  economy, 
etc.  When  he  entered  on  politics,  he  showed  him- 
self a  past  master  in  the  art  of  saying  nothing, 
whilst  giving  himself  the  air  of  lavishing  the  most 
redoubtable  confidences. 

Prince  von  Biilow  was,  moreover,  and  still  is, 
the  most  crafty  of  courtiers.  He  easily  forgets 
his  promises,  and  breaks  his  engagements  without 
scruple.  Lying,  which  he  always  accompanies 
by  a  captivating  smile,  costs  him  no  effort  what- 
soever. Stupendously  ambitious,  he  will  pass 
over  the  body  of  his  best  friend  when  his  personal 
interests  dictate  that  inelegant  action. 

Few^  men  are  as  vain  as  he  is  of  their  physical 
charms.  As  I  have  said  elsewhere.  Prince  von 
Biilow  is  not  a  handsome  man  but  a  pretty  woman. 
One  has  the  impression,  when  speaking  to  him,  that 
he  is  constantly  twisting  himself  about  and  striv- 
ing to  impart  to  his  attitudes  an  enveloping  grace. 
There  is  the  same  studied  elegance  in  the  sonorous- 
ness of  his  bass  voice. 

Prince  von  Biilow  has  a  fine  bearing.  His  reg- 
ular features,  however,  are  lacking  in  distinction. 
On  the  other  hand,  his  blue  eyes  are  very  expres- 
sive. 

Was  it  owing  to  his  personal  allurement  that, 


164  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

late  in  life,  he  married  the  Countess  of  Campo- 
reale,  the  granddaughter  of  the  Italian  Minister 
Minghetti?  Perhaps  so.  This  marriage  was 
profitable  to  him.  Princess  von  Biilow  is  a  very 
intelligent  and  prudent  woman,  whose  collabora- 
tion has  been  precious  to  the  German  diplomatist. 
In  1900  Chancellor  von  Hohenlohe  summoned  the 
man  who  was  soon  to  become  William  II's  "dear 
Bernard"  to  the  post  of  Secretary  of  State  at  the 
Foreign  Office.  A  year  later  Prince  von  Biilow 
replaced  him  in  the  celebrated  Wilhelmstrasse 
Palace. 

The  ambitious  statesman  had  succeeded  in  ob- 
taining Bismarck's  old  post.  Henceforth  he 
strove  to  surpass  even  the  founder  of  the  Empire. 

I  cannot  resist  the  temptation  of  here  relating 
an  incident  which,  though  slight,  will  inform  the 
reader  regarding  Prince  von  Billow's  principal 
defect. 

Unless  my  memory  fails  me,  it  happened  in  1906. 

A  Parisian  journalist,  M.  de  N ,  had  come  to 

Berlin,  and  I  had  had  several  interviews  with  him. 
Now,  during  his  stay  in  the  Prussian  capital,  a 
grand  reception  was  announced  to  be  given  at  the 
Chancellery.  Everybody  of  note  in  the  aristo- 
cratic, literary,  artistic,  diplomatic  and  parliamen- 
tary worlds  of  Berlin  was  to  crowd  in  the  official 
salons.     M.  de  N expressed  to  me  a  desire  to 


INiTHE  REICHSTAG  165 

attend  the  soirée,  where  he  thought  he  would  be 
able  to  collect  some  precious  information.  But  it 
was  not  easy  to  obtain  an  invitation  for  him,  be- 
cause the  Parisian  journalist  had,  a  short  time  be- 
fore, published  a  somewhat  caustic  book  about 
William  II.  However,  Prince  von  Billow's  sec- 
retary, Herr  von  Loebell,  now  Prussian  Minister 
of  the  Interior,  ended  by  sending  me  the  little  card 
on  which  were  the  simple  words  "Mme.  von  Biilow 
receives  on  such  a  day,  at  9  p.m." 

The  Chancellor  gave  a  hearty  welcome  to  my 
companion.  He  even  showed  his  kindness  to  the 
extent  of  taking  him  into  Bismarck's  study,  where 
he  showed  him  the  pen  with  which  his  predecessor 
had  signed  the  Treaty  of  Frankfort!  The  po- 
litest German  will  display  these  sudden  awaken- 
ings of  ancestral  savagery. 

On  returning  to  Paris,  M.  de  N published 

in  a  big  morning  newspaper  three  articles,  in 
which,  in  most  eulogistic  terms,  he  wrote  about 
Prince  von  Biilow  and  his  guests.  Now,  a  few 
days  later,  when  in  the  lobbies  of  the  Reichstag,  I 
happened  to  meet  Prince  von  Aremberg,  who  al- 
most every  evening  played  whist  with  the  Chan- 
cellor. 

The  Prince  stopped  me  and  without  preamble 
said: 


166  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

"Your  Parisian  friend  is  a  blackguard.  The 
Chancellor  is  furious." 

"How  is  that?"  I  replied.  "I've  read  the  arti- 
cles and  they  are  so  amiable  that  I'm  surprised  a 
Parisian  journal  published  them." 

"Amiable?"  cried  the  Prince.  "Look  here! 
Just  you  read  this  passage  which  Prince  von 
Billow  himself  has  underlined  with  a  blue  pencil." 

The  passage  in  question  merely  consisted  of 
these  few  words,  "Prince  von  Biilow  Las  an  ordi- 
nary head." 

The  French  journalist  had  touched  the  German 
statesman  on  his  tenderest  spot — his  vanity,  that 
of  a  faded  beau. 

We  should  be  wrong,  however,  in  concluding 
that  Prince  von  Biilow  did  not  seek  other  suc- 
cesses. As  Chancellor  of  the  Empire  he  wished 
to  govern  effectively,  and  at  the  same  time  he 
aspired  to  give  his  country  the  hegemony  of  the 
universe.  To  be  the  head  of  the  first  State  in  the 
world,  such  was  the  foolish  plan  which  this  proud 
man  had  dreamed  of  realising.  It  was  under  the 
government  of  Prince  von  Biilow  that  Pan-Ger- 
manism, openly  or  hypocritically  encouraged  by 
him,  was  able  to  develop  freely  and  bring  all  the 
public  authorities  under  its  domination.  All  the 
foreign  representatives  accredited  to  the  German 
Government    know    the    stereotyped    argument 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  167 

which  the  occupant  of  the  Wilheknstrasse  urged 
against  them. 

"Ah  !  yes,  Herr  Ambassador.  I  was  quite  ready- 
to  make  you  such-and-such  a  concession,  but,  when 
reading  the  newspapers,  you  must  yourself  have 
been  convinced  of  the  impossibility,  situated  as  I 
am,  of  keeping  my  promises.  Public  opinion 
would  not  tolerate  it." 

A  nice  excuse!  This  public  opinion  was  the 
Chancellor  himself,  who  had  formed  it  by  the 
communiques  from  his  Press  Bureau. 

Prince  von  Biilow  was  not  always  free,  how- 
ever, to  act  as  he  pleased.  He  had  a  suspicious 
master.  William  II  is  disconcerting.  All  who 
have  striven  to  study  him  have  had  to  abandon  the 
task  of  penetrating  the  mystery  of  his  psychology. 
Capricious,  always  acting  on  the  spur  of  the  mo- 
ment, profoundly  convinced  of  the  almost  divine 
character  of  his  mission,  sometimes  seized  with 
strange  scruples,  and  then  suddenly  allowing  him- 
self to  be  led  to  the  worst  excesses  through  his 
headstrong  temperament,  he  exacts  from  his  co- 
workers a  blind  submission  to  his  eternal  caprices. 

Prince  von  Biilow  was  not  the  man  to  accept 
this  servitude.  For  a  long  time  he  succeeded,  by 
amusing  him,  in  suggesting  his  ideas  to  the  Em- 
peror. Serious  difficulties,  however,  were  created 
for  him  through  William  II's  intemperate  Ian- 


168  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

guage,  which  became  almost  morbid.  Never  able 
to  remain  long  in  one  place,  delivering  solemn 
speeches  wherever  he  went,  in  German  towns  as 
well  as  in  foreign  capitals,  intoxicating  himself 
with  his  own  words  to  such  an  extent  that  he  some- 
times made  the  most  compromising  declarations, 
convinced  that  he  knew  everything,  whereas  he 
would  not  consent  to  learn  anything,  the  Emperor, 
in  his  oratorical  demonstrations  and  in  his  private 
conversations  with  foreign  leaders  and  statesmen, 
indulged  in  the  wildest  fancies.  This  jack-of-all- 
trades  who  presided  over  the  destiny  of  the  Ger- 
man Empire  not  only  imagined  that  he  was  a  | 
painter,  a  sculptor,  an  art  critic,  and  a  remarkable 
musician,  he  also  thought  that  he  could  compete 
with  Demosthenes  and  Cicero.  His  political 
speeches  an  J  sermons  (for  every  year,  during  his 
cruises  in  the  North  Sea,  William  II  preached  on 
Sundays  before  the  crew  of  his  yacht)  have  been 
published  in  volume  form. 

Prince  von  Biilow  was  furious  at  being  unable 
to  dam  the  threatening  flood  of  Imperial  elo- 
quence. The  legitimate  emotion  provoked  by  the 
publication  in  the  Daily  Telegraph  of  an  intei*view 
in  which  William  II  gave  an  appreciation  in  dis- 
agreeable terms  of  England's  policy  furnished  the 
Chancellor  with  an  opportunity  of  bringing  his 
master  to  reason. 


.      IN  THE  REICHSTAG  169 

There  was  an  interpellation  in  the  Reichstag. 
The  proceedings  lasted  three  days.  Never  had 
the  tribune  of  the  Imperial  Parliament  enjoyed 
such  liberties.  Theoretically,  the  Sovereign's  per- 
son must  never  be  discussed  in  Germany.  But 
during  those  celebrated  days  high  treason  was  com- 
mitted dozens  and  scores  of  times  by  members  of 
all  parties,  even  those  of  the  Right.  The  most 
indulgent  speakers  pleaded  extenuating  circum- 
stances and  vaguely  hinted  that,  in  their  opinion, 
the  Emperor  was  not  responsible  because  he  was 
of  unbalanced  mind. 

Sunk  in  his  seat,  Prince  von  Biilow,  with  dis- 
tressed face  and  wrinkled  brow,  his  blue  eyes  fixed 
on  the  ceiling  and  his  hands  raised,  every  now  and 
then,  to  make  a  disheartened  gesture,  was  a  living 
statue  of  sorrow.  He  allov/ed,  however,  the  tor- 
rent of  insults  poured  on  the  Sovereign  to  pass 
without  protesting.  A  consummate  actor,  he  as- 
sumed the  attitude  of  a  victim  resigned  to  the 
worst  sacrifices.  And  yet  we  all  knew  that  at  the 
top  of  the  Imperial  manuscript  he  had  placed  the 
sign  that  he  had  read  it  and  approved. 

The  proud  master  of  the  Wilhelmstrasse,  out- 
rageously ambitious  and  basely  cunning,  imagined 
that,  thanks  to  the  most  hypocritical  and  dishon- 
est of  manœuvres,  he  had  succeeded  in  assuring 
for  himself,  henceforth,  undisputed  power.     But 


170  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

when,  on  the  third  day,  he  rose  in  the  midst  of  im- 
pressive silence,  it  was  in  an  almost  languid  voice 
that  he  made  the  long  expected  declaration,  "I 
have  seen  His  ISIajesty.  I  have  obtained  from 
him  the  promise  that  henceforth  he  will  show  the 
greatest  reserve."  The  whole  Reichstag  ap- 
plauded. Prince  von  Biilow  had  not  the  least 
idea  at  that  moment  that  he  had  just  signed  his 
death  warrant. 

In  the  lobbies,  the  Chancellor's  friends  gave  cir- 
cumstantial details  regarding  the  interview  be- 
tween the  Chancellor  and  the  Sovereign.  The  dis- 
cussion had  been  a  stormy  one  and  Prince  von 
Biilow  had  several  times  offered  his  resignation. 
On  leaving  his  master,  he  was  pale  and  almost  fal- 
tering. And  in  the  eyes  of  all  the  members  of 
the  Reichstag  the  statesman  who  had  had  the  cour- 
age to  affront  the  Imperial  anger  grew  beyond 
all  measure  ;  he  became  the  national  hero,  the  man 
who,  by  an  audacious  gesture,  had  restored  the 
reign  of  democracy  in  Germany  and  was  prepar- 
ing to  endow  Prussia  with  a  new  constitutional 
régime. 

During  the  weeks  that  followed,  William  II, 
the  wandering  Em.peror,  der  Reisekaiser,  as  he 
had  been  jokingly  baptized,  did  not  leave  Berlin, 
and  the  echo  of  none  of  his  conversations  appeared 
in  the  Press.     It  was  known  that,  at  long  inter- 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  171 

vais,  "dear  Bernard"  still  went  to  the  Palace  to 
report  the  progress  of  affairs  to  the  Emperor,  and 
that,  during  these  short  audiences,  the  Emperor 
had  not  opened  his  mouth.  Prince  von  Biilow, 
proud  of  the  result  obtained,  had  recovered  his 
good  humour  and  continued  to  enjoy  his  increas- 
ing popularity.  Alas!  the  Chancellor  knew  his 
master  very  badly.  William  II  never  pardons  a 
personal  insult.  Still  less  is  he  the  man  to  sup- 
port a  tutelage.  He  had  bent  his  back  to  the 
storm,  but,  cunning  and  obstinate,  he  awaited  the 
hour  of  vengeance.     It  was  soon  to  strike. 

The  finances  of  the  Empire  were  in  a  bad  state. 
Prince  von  Biilow,  a  Pan-German  and  deter- 
mined to  prepare  for  the  great  war  of  conquests, 
had  opened  the  most  ruinous  credits  for  the  Gen- 
eral Staff  of  the  Army.  The  annual  deficit  of 
the  Empire  reached  500  million  marks.  The 
Chancellor  had  indeed  tried  to  meet  this  by  means 
of  loans,  but  these  barely  covered  it.  Nothing  re- 
mained to  be  done,  therefore,  but  to  create  fresh 
taxes. 

Now,  the  Left  claimed,  contrary  to  the  constant 
tradition  and  also  to  the  spirit  as  well  as  the  letter 
of  the  Constitution,  that  the  necessary  resources 
should  be  obtained  by  means  of  direct  taxes,  which 
are  reserved  for  particular  States.  The  Right 
and  the  Centre,  as  also  the  Federal  Council,  were 


172  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

in  favour  of  increasing  the  indirect  taxes — those 
on  beer,  alcohol,  matches,  railway  tickets,  way- 
bills, etc.  A  formidable  struggle  commenced. 
Prince  von  Biilow,  faced  by  the  opposition  of  the 
Socialists  and  the  Democrats,  whom  he  had,  how- 
ever, domesticated,  wished  to  retire.  William  II 
refused  to  accept  his  resigation  before  the  Reichs- 
tag had  improved  the  finances  of  the  Empire.  The 
Chancellor  was  forced,  therefore,  to  accept  the 
proposals  of  the  Conservatives.  The  day  after 
their  triumph,  when  the  whole  Left  was  over- 
whelming its  former  idol  with  insults,  the  Em- 
peror, who  at  last  had  vengeance  within  his  grasp, 
allowed  the  Chancellor  to  collapse  in  the  midst  of 
the  general  scorn.  He  had  imposed  on  himself 
for  six  months  the  promised  "reserve,"  but  his 
triumph  appeared  only  the  more  brilliant.  From 
the  day  after  his  "dear  Bernard's"  sensational 
fall,  William  II,  more  talkative  than  ever,  re- 
sumed the  series  of  his  noisy  and  pompous  changes 
from  place  to  place,  whilst  the  ex-Dictator,  with 
embittered  heart,  went  to  hide  his  vexation  in  the 
Villa  des  Roses  at  Rome. 

Prince  von  Biilow,  on  leaving  office,  did  not 
say,  like  Bismarck,  "The  King  will  see  me 
again";  but,  more  skilful  than  the  Iron  Chancellor, 
he  took  good  care  not  to  set  up  a  noisy  opposition 
to  the  new  régime.     The  courtiers  whom  he  re- 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  173 

tained  in  misfortune  have  related  to  us  that  the 
disabused  statesman  spent  his  time  in  the  Eternal 
City  re-reading  good  authors,  and  that  his  serene 
soul  henceforth  soared  very  high  above  the 
wretched  contingencies  of  politics.  Nothing  of 
the  sort  !  The  ex-Chancellor  vi^as  biding  his  time  ! 
He  thought  it  had  come  when,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  war,  he  was  entrusted  with  the  task  of  main- 
taining the  neutrality  of  Italy.  Notwithstanding 
his  failure,  he  hopes  that  his  chance  will  still  come 
on  the  day  when  Germany,  forced  to  negotiate 
with  the  victorious  Allies,  will  be  obliged  to  have 
recourse  to  his  undoubted  diplomatic  ability,  and 
on  the  day  when,  comj)elled  to  rid  itself  of  the 
dynasty  of  prey,  Prussia  will  seek  for  its  first 
President  of  the  Republic.  Like  William  II, 
Prince  von  Biilow  harbours  and  protracts  his 
hatred.  His  revenge  will  only  be  complete  on  the 
day  he  enters  as  a  master  into  that  Palace  whence 
the  Emperor  drove  him  like  a  valet. 

Did  the  fourth  Chancellor  of  the  Empire  in- 
tend, as  has  been  claimed,  to  bestow  a  parliamen- 
tary régime  on  Germany?  I  have  never  believed 
it.  By  birth,  education,  and  temperament  he  be- 
longs to  the  caste  of  the  Junkers.  He  had,  how- 
ever, the  supreme  skill  to  give  the  opponents  of 
the  autocracy  the  illusion  of  a  Liberalism  which 
was  absolutely  foreign  to  him.     Above  all,  anx- 


174  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

ious  to  win  over  the  parties  of  the  Left  to  his  im- 
perialistic policy,  he  incessantly  made  deceitful 
advances  towards  them.  A  few  concessions  as  re- 
gards details  sustained  the  confidence  of  men  who, 
deprived  until  then  of  all  honours  and  all  the  ad- 
vantages of  power,  threw  themselves  greedily  on 
the  crumbs  that  fell  from  the  Governmental 
table.  Whereas,  formerly,  the  doors  of  the  Wil- 
helmstrasse  Palace  had  been  strictly  closed  to 
Democratic  members.  Prince  von  Biilow  showed 
himself  most  accessible  to  his  recent  opponents. 
Picture  to  yourself  the  pride  with  which  the  chests 
of  these  pariahs  were  inflated  when  the  little  Ba- 
varian magistrate,  Miiller-Meiningen  and  his  for- 
mer stenographer  at  the  Reichstag,  stout  Wiemer, 
were  received  like  friends  by  the  all-powerful 
Chancellor.  Prodigal  of  his  smiles,  his  friendly 
slaps,  and  his  w^ords  of  affection,  von  Biilow  spent 
his  time  in  passing  golden  chains  around  the  necks 
of  his  predecessors'  most  determined  adversaries. 
How  they  laughed  in  the  lobbies  of  the  Reichstag 
to  see  the  former  bullies  of  the  Democracy  trans- 
form themselves  into  Court  dandies  ! 

The  Chancellor  always  used  the  same  language 
to  his  new  friends.  "At  heart  I  am  with  you. 
Prussia  and  the  Empire  must  be  democratised. 
But  we  cannot  succeed  in  doing  that  at  a  single 
stroke.     We  are  suffocated  within  our  frontiers. 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  175 

Our  industries  are  suffering  from  a  crisis  which  is 
getting  worse  and  worse.  Our  finances  are  in  a 
rotten  condition.  Above  all  things,  let  us  create 
a  Greater  Germany.  The  exactions  of  the  Agra- 
rians and  the  arrogance  of  the  officers  are  insup- 
portable, and  I  desire,  as  much  as  you  do,  to  free 
Germany  from  them.  But  our  army  is  the  won- 
derful instrument  which  will  enable  us  to  domi- 
nate the  world  and  place  the  wealth  of  our  Father- 
land on  the  broadest  bases.  This  would  be  a  badly 
chosen  time  to  break  or  even  to  blunt  the  sword 
which  will  give  us  the  decisive  victory.  There- 
fore be  patient.  Second  me  in  the  final  efforts  I 
am  making  to  assure  our  world  domination.  The 
day  after  victory,  when  the  people,  by  their  sacri- 
fices, have  merited  liberation  from  an  ancient  servi- 
tude, I  shall  be  there  to  proclaim,  with  you,  the 
necessity  of  immediately  granting  the  widest  lib- 
erties to  the  nation." 

There  is,  moreover,  one  of  Prince  von  Billow's 
phrases  which  all  foreign  politicians  ought  to  re- 
member every  time  they  are  obliged  to  negotiate 
with  a  German  diplomatist.  Here  it  is,  in  all  its 
splendid  effrontery: 

"As  far  as  I  am  concerned,  I  have  never  seen 
the  dark  side  of  the  reproach  that  I  have  broken 
political  principles  ;  I  have  even,  at  times,  regarded 


176  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

it  as  a  eulogy.  For  I  recognise  in  it  the  confession 
that  the  reason  of  State  is  my  only  compass." 

Do  not  confuse  this  monstrous  declaration  with 
the  well-known  saying,  "Only  fools  never  change 
their  opinion."  As  a  matter  of  fact,  a  thoughtful 
mind  may,  without  loss  of  prestige,  recognise  that 
it  has  been  mistaken.  But  there  is  a  great  differ- 
ence between  this  logical  evolution  of  thought  and 
the  shameful  principle  in  conformity  with  which 
momentary  interests  permit  one  to  trample  all 
principles  underfoot.  The  theory  of  the  "scrap  of 
paper"  and  "necessity  knows  no  law"  is  to  be 
found  in  its  entirety  in  Prince  von  Billow's  horrible 
dictum.  Prussians,  fortunately,  sometimes  give 
way  to  these  outbursts  of  sincerity  when  they  be- 
lieve they  are  certain  of  success.  And  yet  what 
nation  has  ever  made  so  gi'eat  an  abuse  of  virtuous 
verbalism? 

One  of  Prince  von  Billow's  favourite  sayings 
was  as  follows  : 

"When  you  go  in  for  politics,  you  must  have 
the  skin  of  a  rhinoceros." 

Sometimes  the  rhinoceros's  skin  became  that  of 
an  elephant.  The  elegant  occupant  of  the  Wil- 
helmtrasse  meant  by  this  that  he  was  indifferent 
to  the  most  violent  attacks.  He  exaggerated,  for 
no  statesman  was  ever  more  sensitive,  not  only  to 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  177 

a  censure,  the  grounds  of  which  were  stated,  but 
also  to  friendly  criticism.  A  regards  this  he  is  to 
be  distinguished  from  his  successor,  who  really 
possesses  "the  skin  of  a  rhinoceros." 


178  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 


CHAPTER  IX 

The  Growth  of  Imperialism 

Von  Bethmann-Hollweg — The  Evolution  of  the  Socialists — 
Winterer  and  Preiss,  the  Deputies  for  Alsace-Lorraine 
— Delsor  and  Hauss — Dr.  Ricklin  and  Vonderscheer — 
Grégoire  and  Charles  de  Wendel. 

Herr  von  Bethmann-Hollweg's  appointment 
to  the  post  of  Chancellor  came  as  a  surprise  to 
everybody.  Nothing  seemed  to  have  prepared 
for  such  a  high  position  the  official  whose  absolute 
insignificance  the  Reichstag  had  already  many 
times  been  able  to  appreciate. 

Picture  to  yourself  a  tall,  well-made,  but  thin 
man  who  does  not  know  what  to  do  with  his  long 
arms  and  legs — a  man  whose  bony,  bearded  face 
is  without  expression,  whose  eyes,  buried  in  two 
deep  sockets,  always  have  the  same  anxious  look, 
and  whose  thick  and  pendulous  lower  lip  still 
further  accentuates  his  disconcerting  appearance. 
There  you  have  Herr  von  Bethmann-Hollweg. 
A  mediocre  speaker,  who,  in  a  monotonous  voice 
and  with  heavj^  gestures,  often  employs  most  lu- 
dicrous phrases,  the  fifth  Chancellor  of  the 
Empire  is  most  certainly  deprived  of  everything 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  179 

which  contributed  to  the  seductive  charm  of  his 
predecessor.  On  seeing  him,  during  the  sittings 
of  the  Reichstag,  buried  in  his  chair,  with  his  eyes 
fixed  on  the  ceiHng  and  his  whole  attitude  expres- 
sive of  profound  boredom,  you  would  take  him  for 
a  perfect  idiot.  He  is  but  a  poor  creature  without 
will-power,  entrusted,  through  a  caprice  of  his 
Imperial  master,  with  duties  that  are  too  heavy 
and  too  complicated  for  him. 

I  knew  him  as  a  mere  Under-Secretary  of  State 
at  the  Home  Office.  In  those  days  nobody  paid 
the  least  attention  to  this  obscure  co-worker  with 
Herr  von  Posadowsky.  When  the  latter  received 
from  the  hands  of  Herr  von  Valentini  the  blue 
letter  calling  upon  him  to  resign,  Herr  von  Beth- 
mann-Hollweg  became  his  successor. 

"Bethmann-Hollweg?  Who  is  he?"  people 
asked  in  the  lobbies  of  the  Reichstag,  on  hearing 
the  news. 

"The  insignificant — very  insignificant — substi- 
tute for  a  man  of  great  value,"  replied  a  few 
initiates. 

And,  indeed,  when,  à  propos  of  the  home 
Budget,  the  interminable  discussions  on  social  poli- 
tics were  resumed,  one  could  clearly  see  how  dryly 
bureaucratic  the  eloquence  of  the  new  Secretary 
of  State  was. 

I  have  retained  an  amusing  recollection  of  that 


180  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

period.  It  was  in  1906,  and  the  constitutional  re- 
form of  Alsace-Lorraine  was  once  more  being 
discussed  in  the  Reichstag.  During  a  speech  by 
the  Socialist  Deputy  Emmel,  Herr  von  Beth- 
mann-Hollweg,  near  whom  I  was,  made  the 
following  remark  in  an  undertone: — 

"If  only,  before  asking  us  for  anything,  you 
would  agree  among  yourselves!" 

"This  is  a  bad  time.  Excellency,  to  discuss  that 
question,"  I  replied.  "If  you  will  allow  me,  I  will 
call  to-morrow  morning  at  the  Wilhemstrasse." 

"All  right!    I  will  receive  you  at  ten  o'clock." 

I  was  there  to  the  minute  on  the  following  day. 
Our  interview  lasted  an  hour  and  a  half  and  was 
a  stormy  one.  At  one  moment  Herr  von  Beth- 
mann-HoUweg  said  to  me: 

"You  demand  a  Republican  Constitution.  That 
is  impossible.  The  German  Princes  will  never 
consent  to  establish  a  Republic,  and  that  in  the 
Marches  of  the  West." 

"What  can  you  expect,  Excellency,"  I  replied. 
"We  have  no  djTiastic  attachment,  and  I  don't 
see  how  we  can  create  one  ;  and  so  much  the  more 
so  because,  as  my  colleague  Groeber  said  a  week 
ago,  we  should  be  obliged,  if  that  came  about,  to 
'swallow'  (herunterschlucken)  a  Prussian  Prince." 

Herr  von  Bethmann-HoUweg,  surprised  by 
this  unexpected  remark,  blurted  out  : 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  181 

"Groeber  was  right.  Ah  !  if  only  Prince  August 
was  ten  years  older." 

He  had  confessed.  Prussia  counted  on  making 
Alsace-Lorraine  the  appanage  for  one  of  the  sons 
of  William  II.  The  Emperor  had  even  already 
decided  to  grant  our  country  to  his  fourth  son. 
I  did  not  expect  to  hear  so  much  as  this.  More- 
over, the  naïveté  with  which  the  confidence  was 
made  proves  that  Herr  von  Bethmann-Hollweg 
was  completely  destitute  of  the  most  elementary 
prudence. 

When  the  question  of  Prince  von  Billow's  suc- 
cessor came  up,  deputies  and  journalists  took  part 
for  several  days  in  the  game  of  trying  to  guess 
who  it  was  to  be.  Many  names  were  mentioned. 
But  that  of  Herr  von  Bethmann-Hollweg  never 
entered  the  head  of  a  single  person.  When  people 
heard 'that  William  II,  after  long  hesitations,  had 
fixed  his  choice  on  the  least  brilliant  of  bureau- 
crats, there  was  first  of  all  stupor  and  then  indig- 
nation in  political  circles.  It  was  quite  obvious 
that  the  Emperor  wished  to  become  his  own  Chan- 
cellor again.  "Dear  Bernard"  had  tried  to  play 
the  part  of  a  INIaj^or  of  the  Palace.  The  boss 
intended  to  substitute  for  that  cumbrous  person- 
age a  simple  copying  clerk. 

Moreover,  the  new  Imperial  Minister  was  fully 


182  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

to  justify  his  master's  confidence.  Herr  von  Beth- 
mann-Hollweg  is  not  a  bad  man;  he  has  even  a 
substratum  of  honesty  which  is  surprising  in  the 
case  of  a  Prussian.  Above  all,  however,  he  is  a 
faithful  servant.  The  master  commands  and  he 
obeys  his  orders  without  a  murmur,  without 
listening  to  the  voice  of  his  conscience.  Some- 
times, perhaps,  he  raises  a  timid  objection.  But 
if  the  Emperor  persists  in  his  judgment,  the 
Chancellor  bows  to  it  and,  with  an  accent  of  the 
most  profound  conviction,  upholds  before  Parlia- 
ment a  point  of  view  which,  left  to  himself,  he 
would  have  condemned.  He  is  indifferent  either 
to  the  opinion  of  Parliament  or  to  that  of  the 
people.    He  will  calmly  say: 

"Put  me  in  a  minority,  if  it  so  please  you;  I 
shall  remain  all  the  same  at  my  post  as  long  as  I 
retain  the  confidence  of  my  Sovereign." 

The  whole  of  German  parliamentary  life  is 
summed  up  in  this  brutal  sally. 

During  recent  years,  the  Socialists  of  the 
Reichstag  had  become  the  best  supporters  of  the 
imperialism  of  Prince  von  Biilow  and  his  successor. 
Events  have  proved  it.  Long  and  attentively  have 
I  followed  their  evolution.  After  the  death  of 
Liebknecht  and  Singer,  Bebel,  henceforth  left 
behind  by  the  self-seekers  of  his  party,  had  himself 
abandoned  his  old  intransigent  opposition.    Bern- 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  183 

stein,  Heyne,  Sudekum,  Scheidemann,  and  David 
had  become  masters  of  the  parliamentary  fraction 
and  were  themselves  coming  under  the  ascendancy 
of  Legien. 

The  last  named,  president  of  the  German  pro- 
fessional workers'  syndicates,  was  the  type  of  the 
Possibilist.  Formerly  the  proletariat  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Rhine  had  had  faith  in  the  social  revo- 
lution of  that  marvellous  future  State  the 
prodigious  equality  of 'which  the  pontiffs  of  com- 
plete collectivism  had  flashed  before  its  eyes. 
Then,  seeing  nothing  come,  but  noting  on  the  other 
hand  that  the  mirage  gi'ew  fainter  every  day,  in 
the  midst  of  a  materialistic  society  in  which  the 
exigencies  of  capitalism  grew  inordinately,  the 
workman  had  come  to  wish  for  immediate  realisa- 
tions. Little  by  little,  he  had  thus  detached 
himself  from  pure  politics  in  order  to  fall  back  on 
social  legislation  which  certain  bourgeois  parties 
endeavoured  to  develop  methodically  but  without 
excessive  haste.  From  that  time  the  seats  of 
doctrinarian  Socialists  were  in  danger.  Legien, 
who  had  them  at  his  disposal,  thanks  to  his  power- 
ful syndicates,  demanded  of  his  colleagues  of  the 
Extreme  Left  that  they  should  cease  their  system- 
atic and  sterile  opposition,  to  enter  on  the  path  of 
progressive  amelioration  of  the  lot  of  the  workers. 
The  Socialists  formerly  rejected  all  social  Bills 


184  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

on  the  pretext  that  they  were  insufficient.  The 
Syndicahsts  forced  them  to  vote  for  them  every 
time  that  these  Bills  represented  a  real  progress. 
It  was  thus  that,  at  the  time  of  the  last  reform  of 
the  workers'  insurance,  the  Extreme  Left,  for  the 
first  time,  added  its  votes  to  those  of  the  Demo- 
crats, the  National-Liberals,  and  the  Centre. 

From  that  time  Parliamentary  Socialism  re- 
nounced the  doctrine  of  Karl  Marx  and  became  a 
party  of  reform  like  the  others.  One  thing  lead- 
ing to  another,  it  transformed  itself,  if  not  into 
a  governmental  party,  at  least  into  a  party  of 
government.  In  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Baden,  in 
Wurtemberg,  and  in  Bavaria  the  fraction  of  the 
Extreme  Left  was  seen  to  vote  in  favour  of  the 
Budget.  Frank  ventured  to  attend  the  Court 
receptions.  When  the  constitutional  reform  of  Al- 
sace-Lorraine came  before  the  Reichstag  in  1911, 
the  whole  of  the  Socialist  fraction  voted  for  the 
Governmental  Bill,  the  first  clause  of  which  said, 
"Sovereign  power  is  exercised  in  the  Reichland 
by  the  German  Emperor."  In  1913,  opposition 
to  the  formidable  increase  in  the  peace  effectives 
of  the  army  was  very  faintly  indicated  by  the 
Parliamentary  Socialists,  who  afterwards  en- 
thusiastically adopted  the  thousand  millions  of 
extraordinary  taxes  on  wealth  which  made  that 
increase  realisable.    All  these  concessions  of  prin- 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  185 

ciples  were,  moreover,  consented  to  without  any 
compensation.  The  Right  continued  to  dominate 
the  Imperial  Parliament  and  the  Prussian  Gov- 
ernment remained  fiercely  reactionary.  The 
Socialists  nevertheless  underwent  the  growing  in- 
fluence of  militant  pan-Germanism. 

Since  1906  we  could  no  longer  make  our 
complaints,  as  before,  from  the  tribune  of  the 
Imperial  Parliament  without  provoking  protests 
from  the  parties  of  the  Left  as  well  as  those  of  the 
Centre  and  the  Right.  The  Poles  and  the  Danes 
were  in  the  same  box.  Whereas,  formerly,  we 
always  had  a  majority  when  we  demanded  the 
abolition  of  our  exceptional  laws  and  the  extension 
of  our  public  liberties,  the  whole  Reichstag  now 
rose  against  claims  which  it  considered  excessive 
and  treated  us  as  enemies  of  the  Empire. 

This  was  especially  the  case  when  there  disap- 
peared one  devoted  friend  we  had  in  the  ranks  of 
the  Socialist  Party,  the  Bavarian  Deputy  von 
Vollmar.  This  tall,  thin  man  with  a  long,  angular 
head  and  a  little  pointed  beard,  like  that  of 
Napoleon  III,  was  a  curious  figure.  A  former 
pontifical  Zouave,  von  Vollmar  had  been  wounded 
in  the  heel  during  the  war  of  1870,  and  they  had 
never  been  able  to  extract  the  bullet,  which  caused 
him  much  pain.  He  walked  but  painfully,  leaning 
on  a  stick.  The  frock-coat  which  he  wore  buttoned 


186  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

lip  to  the  chin  gave  him  the  appearance  of  one 
of  the  officers  on  half -pay  of  the  Restoration.  Of 
very  independent  mind,  speaking  with  some  diffi- 
culty, but  with  much  appositeness  and  a  deep 
knowledge  of  the  subjects  he  handled,  the 
Bavarian  Deputy  was  listened  to  very  attentively 
in  the  Reichstag,  especially  when  he  spoke  on 
foreign  affairs. 

A  very  wealthy  Swedish  lady  (it  was  related 
that  she  possessed  two  millions)  became  enrap- 
tured with  the  expontifical  Zouave  and  married 
him.  Now,  it  happened  that  since  the  Franco- 
Prussian  War  von  VoUmar  received  a  pension  of 
2,000  marks  from  the  Emperor's  private  purse. 
When,  through  his  marriage,  he  became  rich,  he 
was  discreetly  invited  to  abandon  his  income. 

"God  forbid!"  he  replied.  "Henceforth  I  shall 
hand  my  pension  over  to  the  party  funds,  where 
it  will  represent  the  Imperial  subscription." 

On  this  occasion  von  Vollmar  showed  himself 
more  generous  than  Bebel,  who,  having  inherited 
half  a  million  from  an  officer,  an  admirer,  kept  the 
greater  part  of  this  royal  gift  for  himself.  We 
know  that  when  the  ex-workman  cabinetmaker 
died  he  left  a  fortune  of  more  than  900,000  marks 
to  his  son,  a  doctor  in  Switzerland.  The  CoUec- 
tivists  never  pardoned  their  great  leader  for  this 
infidelity  to  the  sacred  doctrine.     It  is  true  that 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  187 

capitalists  are  numerous  among  them  and  almost 
always  respected. 

My  Alsace-Lorraine  colleagues  in  the  Reichstag 
formed  an  interesting  group.  After  the  voluntary 
departure  of  Canons  Guerber  and  Simonis,  M. 
Winterer  became  the  doyen  of  our  little  fraction. 
His  was  a  fine  and  beautiful  figure.  The  curé  of 
St.  Etienne  at  Miilhausen  had  been  elected  for  the 
first  time  in  1874  for  the  constituency  of  Altkirch- 
Thann.  Since  then,  his  electors  had  remained 
constantly  faithful  to  him.  In  Canon  Winterer's 
heart  was  one  passionate  affection — that  for 
France,  and  one  deep  hatred — that  for  Socialism. 
At  a  time  when  nobody  yet  attached  importance 
to  the  theories  of  Marxism,  he  had  grasped  their 
danger  and,  in  books  which  are  still  read  with 
profit,  had  attempted  to  refute  them  scientifically. 

Winterer  had  not  a  transcendent  mind,  but  he 
was  an  indefatigable  worker.  He  required  a  good 
deal  of  time  and  reflection  to  establish  his  con- 
victions, but  when  he  had  acquired  them  nothing 
could  ever  shake  them.  He  stuck  to  his  ideas  in 
a  direct  ratio  to  the  difficulty  their  assimilation  had 
given  him.  Intercourse  with  him  was  not  always 
easy;  but  the  authority  he  enjoyed,  and  which  was 
explained  by  his  sincerity  and  application,  as  well 
as  the  dignity  of  his  life,  was  enormous. 

In  his  attachment  to  the  lost  provinces  he  never 


188  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

gave  way.  The  Germans  knew  that  he  was  their 
irreconcilable  enemy.  In  Berlin,  as  well  as  in 
Strassburg,  Winterer  was  the  soul  of  a  deliberate 
resistance,  moderate  in  appearance,  but  of  inflexi- 
ble energy.  His  speeches,  which  were  very  elabo- 
rate (the  member  for  Altkirch  never  improvised), 
always  produced  a  profound  emotion,  which  was 
still  further  increased  by  the  speaker's  venerable 
aspect  and  the  penetrating  tone  of  his  voice. 

Jacques  Preiss  was  quite  different.  A  lawyer 
of  great  ability  and  a  remarkable  polemist,  speak- 
ing and  writing  the  German  language  admirably, 
the  member  for  Colmar  gave,  when  in  the  tribune, 
the  impression  of  being  a  powerful  adversary. 
His  arguments  descended  on  the  heads  of  his  op- 
ponents like  the  blows  of  a  sledge-hammer.  The 
speech  on  the  Dictatorship  delivered  by  Preiss  in 
1894  in  the  Reichstag  marked  the  first  awakening 
of  public  opinion  in  Alsace-Lorraine,  after  the 
period  of  the  hardest  persecutions.  On  hearing 
that  splendid  trumpet  blast,  the  people  of  the 
annexed  provinces  recovered  consciousness  of  their 
rights,  as  Spiess's  election  was  to  prove  two  years 
later.  What  Preiss  so  well  called  "the  cemetery 
peace"  was  at  an  end. 

Few  men  were  so  popular  as  the  member  for 
Colmar  during  the  years  that  followed.  His  name 
became  a  flag.    And  only  rightly  so,  for  Preiss, 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  189 

devoid  of  all  ambition,  had  never  once  shown  a 
sign  of  weakness.  A  few  months  before  the  open- 
ing of  the  war  he  showed  me,  with  a  certain  pride, 
the  extremely  rare  pamphlet  in  which,  when  a 
young  student,  he  had  already  traced  the  political 
programme  which  was  to  be  that  of  his  whole  life. 

A  good-humoured  man  and  a  most  sure  friend, 
he  was  held  in  general  esteem.  The  Germans 
themselves  respected  an  enemy  whose  disinterest- 
edness they  knew  through  having  tried  in  vain  on 
several  occasions  to  buy  his  co-operation. 

A  Protestant,  or  rather  a  Freethinker,  whose 
temperament  led  him  to  combat  all  religious  sym- 
bols, "our  Jacques,"  as  he  was  called,  neverthe- 
less extolled  that  sacred  union  of  which  he  was 
one  of  the  principal  founders  in  Alsace-Lorraine. 
Catholic  electors  constantly  showed  their  gratitude 
to  him  on  that  account,  whereas  the  "Liberals" 
would  never  pardon  him. 

Of  medium  height,  with  a  well-knit  frame,  al- 
though he  was  afflicted  with  a  slight  stoutness, 
possessing  an  energetic  face  intersected  by  a  slen- 
der moustache,  and  an  animated  look  behind  the 
double  eye-glass  constantly  fixed  on  his  small 
nose,  Preiss  spoke  little,  but  listened  and  reflected 
a  good  deal.  It  was  only  after  a  good  meal, 
copiously  washed  dowTi  by  generous  wines,  that 


190  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

he  let  himself  go.  His  sprightliness  was  then 
unbounding. 

He  gained  an  important  position  in  the  Reichs- 
tag. On  the  benches  of  the  Democrats  and  of  the 
Centre  he  counted  only  friends.  His  interventions 
in  the  tribune  always  produced  the  greatest  effect. 

The  Abbé  Delsor  is  and  was  always  a  bundle  of 
nerves.  First  of  all  a  teacher  in  France  and 
professor  at  the  little  episcopal  seminary  of 
Strassburg,  he  afterwards  became,  after  a  short 
stay  at  Colmar,  as  curate  of  St.  Martin's,  curé  of 
a  little  village  in  Lower  Alsace.  Possessing  su- 
perior intelligence,  writing  French  and  the 
Alsatian  dialect  perfectly,  he  experienced  the 
glories  of  fame  when  quite  young.  His  chats  in 
dialect,  signed  "The  Old  Pontoneer,"  had  a 
prodigious  success  in  the  Union  d'Alsace-Lorraine, 
and  largely  contributed  to  sustain  the  spirit  of 
national  opposition  among  the  population  of  the 
annexed  provinces.  Later,  when  the  Union  was 
suppressed,  Delsor  took  over  the  management  of 
the  Revue  catholique  d'Alsace-Lorraine,  the 
brilliant  monthly  articles  of  which  placed  him  in 
the  front  rank  of  the  gallant  defenders  of  our 
liberties.  Delsor  has  a  lapidary  style.  His 
sentences  are  clear,  precise,  trenchant,  and  abound 
in  similes.  Unfortunately,  this  incomparable 
writer  has  no  definite  political  doctrine.    He  does 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  191 

not  live  on  an  acquired  basis  of  classified  knowl- 
edge, but  from  day  to  day  on  his  impressions  of 
the  moment. 

Here  is  an  instance.  In  1906  the  Reichstag  was 
discussing  the  American  Meat  Importation  Bill. 
The  German  market  was  flooded  with  suspicious 
products,  the  preparation  of  which  was  not 
sufficiently  controlled  in  the  ports  of  departure. 
Numerous  cases  of  poisoning  had  been  reported 
through  the  consumption  of  sausages  and  fats 
coming  from  the  United  States. 

German  producers,  whose  cattle  was  in- 
sufficiently protected  against  this  disastrous  com- 
petition, had  demanded  that  the  authorities  should 
allow  only  animals  that  had  been  slaughtered  in 
large  houses,  where  they  could  be  easily  examined 
by  the  Customs,  to  be  imported  from  America. 

Representing  an  almost  exclusively  agricultural 
population,  the  Abbé  Delsor's  duty  was  to  support 
the  Governmental  Bill.  But  whilst  on  his  way  to 
Berlin  he  read  an  article  by  Le  Play  on  cheap 
living.  When  he  reached  the  Reichstag,  he  de- 
clared to  Hauss  and  myself  that  he  was  going  to 
ask  to  speak  in  favour  of  complete  liberty  as  re- 
gards importation.  The  more  we  strove  to  combat 
his  ideas  the  more  obstinate  he  became  in  defend- 
ing them.  Our  discussion  assumed  such  propor- 
tions  that   Hauss  ended   by  saying  to   Delsor, 


192  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

"Very  well!  Deliver  your  speech  in  your  own 
name.  I  shall  afterwards  ask  to  speak  in  the  name 
of  my  group,  to  uphold  the  opposite  point  of 
view." 

During  the  whole  discussion,  Delsor,  who  had 
had  his  name  put  down  to  speak,  stood  at  the  foot 
of  the  tribune.  He  was  visibly  annoyed.  When 
his  turn  came  to  speak  he  delivered  a  splendid 
speech  in  favour  of  Protection!  Hauss  very 
nearly  embraced  him  when,  smiling,  he  returned 
to  his  seat. 

How  can  one  explain  this  strange  receptivity? 
Delsor,  who  is  a  very  brilliant  talker  and  naturally 
inclined  towards  contradiction,  lives  a  good  deal 
out  of  doors.  He  talks  more  than  he  studies. 
Hence  a  natural  tendency  to  return  in  his  articles 
to  the  often  contradictory  ideas  which  his  long 
and  numerous  conversations  with  people  of  all 
classes  have  brought  forth  in  his  mind. 

We  were  constantly  obliged  to  watch  over  him, 
to  take  him  aside  and  catechise  him,  in  order  to 
avoid  the  danger  of  his  bolting.  This  lack  of 
moderation  served  him  an  ill  turn  in  1891.  In 
one  of  his  "Reviews  of  the  Month"  he  allowed  him- 
self to  write  an  vmfortunate  sentence  regarding 
Protestantism  which  brought  him  a  sensational 
lawsuit.  I  was  present  at  the  sitting  of  the  Miil- 
hausen  Tribunal  before  which  he  was  condemned. 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  193 

The  Imperial  Procurator  made  merely  a  passing 
mention  of  the  three  incriminating  words.  On  the 
other  hand,  he  laid  himself  out  to  deliver  an  in- 
terminable speech  on  the  general  political  attitude 
of  the  accused,  whom  he  depicted  as  the  most  dan- 
gerous adversary  of  Germanism.  The  case  ended 
in  a  sentence  of  three  months'  imprisonment. 
Whilst  Delsor  was  in  prison  I  was  entrusted  with 
the  task  of  replacing  him  on  the  Review.  This 
was  my  début  as  a  journalist. 

Under  the  Combes  JVIinistry,  the  Abbé  Delsor, 
who  had  been  invited  by  a  French  Deputy  of  the 
Vosges  to  preside  over  a  Christmas-tree  fête  given 
by  the  Alsace-Lorrainers  of  Luneville,  was  ex- 
pelled as  a  "German"  subject  from  French  terri- 
tory before  he  had  even  been  able  to  speak  there. 
Some  of  my  readers  will  recollect  the  stormy  dis- 
cussion that  resulted  in  the  French  Parliament. 
The  Ministry  narrowly  escaped  defeat.  Notwith- 
standing the  numerous  expressions  of  sjmipathy 
which  the  severe  and  unjustifiable  measure  of 
which  he  had  been  the  object  brought  him,  the 
Abbé  Delsor,  without  confessing  it  to  himself,  felt 
his  faith  in  France  as  a  liberator  decline.  He 
visibly  struggled  against  the  prejudices  which  in- 
vaded him.  Embittered  and  exasperated,  he  no 
longer  succeeded,  however,  in  fighting  the  good 
fight  with  the  same  ardour  as  before.     His  dis- 


194  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

contentment  was  to  increase  still  further  when, 
notwithstanding  the  applications  of  his  friends,  he 
was  several  times  refused  the  simple  safe-conduct 
he  had  applied  for  in  order  to  visit  friends  in  Nor- 
mandy. When,  later,  thanks  to  the  intervention 
of  M.  Paul  Deschanel,  I  obtained  the  necessary 
document  for  him,  he  refused  to  make  use  of  it. 

After  this,  is  it  surprising  that,  at  the  opening 
of  the  war,  the  Abbé  Delsor  did  not  take  up  the 
heroic  attitude  we  hoped  he  would  assume  ?  I  am 
aware  that,  later,  he  atoned  for  his  weaknesses — 
of  which  I  was  the  first  victim — by  particularly 
meritorious  acts  of  courage.  It  will  be  to  him 
especially  that,  to-morrow,  we  must  apply  the 
adage,  "To  comprehend  everything  is  to  pardon 
everything." 

Charles  Hauss  is  an  entirely  different  type  of 
man.  Coming  of  a  very  poor  family,  he  was  edu- 
cated at  an  elementary  school,  after  which,  dur- 
ing two  years,  he  attended  the  classes  of  a  school 
kept  by  French  missionaries.  He  started  work 
with  the  management  of  the  Alsace-Lorraine 
Railway  Company,  and  whilst  an  employee  was 
a  member  of  the  delegation  which,  at  the  time  of 
the  suppression  of  the  Fedelta,  a  Catholic  society 
of  Strassburg,  called  on  Fichter,  the  Prefect  of 
Police,  to  protest  against  that  measure.  The  next 
day  he  was  dismissed.    He  next  became  a  serpent- 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  195 

player  at  the  Cathedral;  then  a  reporter  on  the 
staff  of  Elsaesser.  At  the  time  of  the  election  of 
M.  Spiess,  at  Schlestadt,  in  1896,  Hauss  sudden- 
ly revealed  himself  to  be  a  first-class  popular 
speaker.  Tall  and  of  fine  bearing,  possessing 
sympathetic  features  and  a  powerful  voice,  quick 
in  his  replies,  endowed  with  a  wonderful  memory, 
and,  moreover,  an  indefatigable  worker,  he  pro- 
duced so  deep  an  impression  on  his  crowded  audi- 
ences that,  in  1898,  despite  the  sly  opposition  of 
a  few  noteworthy  Catholics,  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Reichstag. 

Hauss,  displeased  with  the  attitude  of  Elsaes- 
ser, the  journal  of  Mgr.  Millier- S imonis,  a  semi- 
Rallie,  founded,  with  Delsor,  the  Volkshlatt,  in 
which  he  defended  a  more  clearly  defined  Alsatian 
policy.  At  first  the  paper  met  with  consid- 
erable success,  but  later  its  action  was  paralysed 
through  financial  difficulties. 

Both  in  the  Reichstag  and  in  the  Strassburg 
Parliament,  which  he  entered  later,  Hauss  was 
able  to  bring  himself  to  the  fore  by  his  great  abil- 
ity as  a  speaker.  This  self-taught  man  was  also 
a  remarkable  political  tactician.  On  many  occa- 
sions he  was  even  a  little  bit  too  much  so.  But 
it  is  only  right  to  recognise  that,  whilst  sometimes 
giving  pledges  to  a  Govermnent  which  knew  how 
to  exploit  financial  difficulties,  in  the  midst  of 


196  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

which,  owing  to  his  excessive  prodigahty,  he  was 
constantly  struggling,  he  never  completely  abdi- 
cated his  independence,  and  remained,  even  during 
most  difficult  times,  a  good  Alsatian. 

I  shall  not  say  as  much  of  Dr.  Ricklin,  who 
succeeded  M.  Winterer  in  the  Reichstag  when 
this  veteran  champion,  tired  out,  felt  that  he  could 
no  longer  ask  his  faithful  electors  of  Altkirch- 
Thann  to  re-elect  him.  The  Dannemarie  doctor 
had  already  at  that  time  a  rather  dark  past.  His 
mother  having  married  a  second  time,  when  he 
was  ten  years  old,  little  Eugen  was  taken  by  his 
stepfather,  a  Bavarian  railway  offi.cial,  to  the  lat- 
ter's  native  place,  where  the  boy  received  a  thor- 
ough German  education.  The  numerous  deep 
cuts  that  Ricklin  bore  on  his  face  proved  that  he 
had  been  a  very  quarrelsome  student  at  his  Mu- 
nich school. 

Returning  to  Alsace,  he  became  a  country  doc- 
tor. In  those  days  he  made  a  display  of  his  Ger- 
manophile sentiments,  never  missed  an  opportu- 
nity on  the  occasion  of  the  Emperor's  birthday 
of  putting  on  his  uniform  of  an  assistant  doctor 
in  the  German  Army,  and  lived  in  a  state  of  con- 
tinual discord  with  his  curé.  His  marriage  to  one 
of  his  cousins,  a  very  wealthy  girl  whose  educa- 
tion had  been  wholly  French,  seemed  to  have  a 
good  influence  over  him.    The  necessity  of  adapt- 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  197 

ing  his  opinions  to  those  of  his  electors  completed 
his  conversion — at  any  rate  in  appearance.  Rick- 
lin  became  anti-governmental  and  a  frequent  at- 
tendant of  the  religious  services  in  his  parish.  A 
short  time  after  his  election  the  Government 
brutally  deprived  him  of  the  mayoralty  of  Danne- 
marie.  Very  selfish,  the  member  for  Altkirch- 
Thann  then  threw  himself  into  the  most  violent 
opposition. 

Preiss  always  distrusted  this  tardy  recruit.  A 
long  time  before  Ricklin  betrayed  the  Alsatian 
cause,  he  foresaw  that  defection,  which  was  pre- 
cipitated by  his  caustic  criticisms.  In  1911,  at  the 
time  of  the  discussion  of  the  constitutional  reform 
of  Alsace-Lorraine,  Ricklin,  more  prudent  and 
more  diplomatic,  however,  than  Vonderscheer, 
engaged  in  the  most  suspicious  manoeuvres  and 
thus  gained  the  friendship  of  Secretary  of  State 
Zorn  von  Bulach.  The  year  following  he  became, 
thanks  to  Government  support.  President  of  the 
Second  Chamber  of  Strassburg,  and  after  that  he 
impudently  paraded  his  Germanism.  At  the  be- 
ginning of  the  war,  Ricklin  delivered  wildly  patri- 
otic speeches;  he  even  went  as  far  as  denouncing 
and  threatening  the  Francophile  populations  of 
the  annexed  provinces.  He  has  again  put  on  his 
uniform  of  an  officer  of  the  reserve,  after  having, 
a  few  years  before,  noisily  resigned  his  post  as 


198  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

assistant  army  doctor.  Whereas  his  colleagues, 
formerly  the  most  compromised,  observe  an  atti- 
tude of  reserve,  he  seeks  for  every  opportunity  of 
giving  pledges  to  the  military  government. 

Ricklin  is  cunning  and  shrewd,  but  likewise 
brutal.  Inordinately  ambitious  and  sordidly 
avaricious,  his  sole  desire  is  for  honours  and 
money.  In  order  to  obtain  them  he  is  ready  to 
pass  over  the  bodies  of  his  closest  friends.  He  is 
certainly  the  most  detestable  of  all  the  ralliés. 

Poor  Vonderscheer,  who  got  M.  Spiess's  seat 
at  Schlestadt,  exhibited  the  same  failings,  but  his 
evolution  was  less  brilliant,  because  the  man  was 
more  in  the  shade.  A  lawyer  with  no  ability,  his 
great  ambition  was  to  obtain  an  important  no- 
tary's office  from  the  Ministry.  He  was  tenacious 
in  his  ambitions,  but  very  timid  by  temperament. 
Over  the  steps  he  took  to  attain  his  end  he  was 
very  long,  and  he  moved  in  the  midst  of  the  great- 
est mystery.  In  the  presence  of  his  colleagues,  he 
derived  a  certain  amount  of  glory  from  his  rela- 
tionship with  a  French  general.  We  were  igno- 
rant of  the  fact  that,  whilst  he  was  multiplying 
his  protests  of  friendship  towards  France,  he  was 
maintaining  the  most  cordial  relations  with  the 
members  of  the  Strassburg  Government.  By 
means  of  intrigues,  he  succeeded  in  getting  himself 
elected  President  of  the  Alsace-Lorraine  Centre, 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  199 

and  such  was  his  duphcity  that  we  regarded  this 
election  as  a  brilliant  success  for  our  national 
cause.  But  the  very  next  day  he  sold  us  to  Baron 
von  Bulach.  His  treason  became  patent  in  1911. 
He  it  was  who,  behind  our  backs,  negotiated,  on 
the  one  hand  with  the  Chancellor,  on  the  other 
with  the  German  Centre,  the  constitutional  com- 
promise which  was  to  hand  Alsace-Lorraine  over 
to  Prussia.  There  were  stormy  scenes  at  that 
time  between  Vonderscheer  and  the  other  mem- 
bers of  our  group.  The  petty  Strassburg  law- 
yer, who  thought  that  he  had  at  last  got  his  no- 
tary's office,  nevertheless  threw  down  his  mask  and 
shamefully  betrayed  us.  Expelled  from  the 
party,  he  no  longer  had  the  courage  to  ask  his 
electors  to  re-elect  him.  Baron  von  Bulach  paid 
for  the  services  that  Vonderscheer  had  rendered 
by  giving  him  a  small  post  in  the  magistracy. 
Since  then,  the  ex-Deputy,  returning  to  the  ob- 
scurity from  which  he  ought  never  to  have  come, 
has  seen  all  the  people  of  Alsace-Lorraine  turn 
from  him  in  disgust. 

I  have  yet  to  mention  another  renegade — the 
lawyer  Grégoire,  of  Metz.  He,  at  any  rate,  had 
the  frankness  from  the  very  first  to  display  his 
Germanophile  sentiments  openly.  His  mother 
and  wife,  moreover,  were  German. 

Grégoire  had  tried  to   place  his  hand  on  his 


200  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

colleague  of  Lorraine,  M.  Charles  de  Wendel.  A 
short  time  before  his  election,  this  great  manufac- 
turer of  Lorraine  had  had  to  resume  his  Alsace- 
Lorraine  nationality  in  order  to  prevent  the  man- 
agement of  the  important  works  of  Hayange 
passing  into  the  hands  of  a  German.  Of  entirely 
French  education,  he  had  an  inborn  repugnance 
to  manifestations  of  Germanism.  He  was  seen 
but  little  in  Berlin;  but,  on  his  rare  appearances, 
he  always  joined  forces  with  the  Alsace-Lorraine 
group,  whereas  Grégoire,  who  had  had  himself 
inscribed  as  a  "guest"  in  the  National-Liberal 
fraction,  regularly  gave  his  votes  to  Bassermann 
and  his  friends. 

When  the  question  of  the  renewal  of  the  mili- 
tary septennate  came  before  the  Imperial  Parlia- 
ment, Charles  de  Wendel  was  the  object  of  the 
most  pressing  solicitations.  The  majority  was 
doubtful.  A  single  vote  might  decide  the  fate  of 
the  Bill.  Grégoire  would  not  let  go  of  his  col- 
league, who  was  also  constantly  summoned  to  the 
Councillors  of  the  Chancellery,  who,  in  order  to 
make  him  give  way,  employed  the  vilest  means  of 
blackmailing  him.  Persecution  assumed  such  pro- 
portions that  the  wretched  Charles  de  Wendel, 
tossed  about  between  his  political  convictions  and 
his  business  interests,  came  to  the  point  of  no 
longer  knowing  where  his  duty  lay. 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  201 

Half  an  hour  before  the  vote  took  place  I  was 
conversing  with  him  in  the  lobbies.  When  the 
division  bell  rang  and  announced  that  the  fatal 
hour  had  come,  the  Lorraine  Deputy  made  an 
energetic  gesture,  uttered  in  an  angry  voice  (  God 
pardon  him!)  the  word  that  made  Cambronne 
famous,  and  rushed  out  of  the  Reichstag,  never 
to  appear  there  again.  The  Government  was 
enraged  at  his  abstention.  Charles  de  Wendel, 
disgusted  with  the  persecutions  of  which  he  was 
the  object  since  then,  soon  returned  to  Paris, 
where  he  hastened  to  resume  his  French  nation- 
ality. 

I  shall  not  speak  of  other  colleagues  who  al- 
ways did  their  duty  courageously,  because  the 
good  I  should  say  of  them  might  expose  them  to 
reprisals.  I  feel  that  my  pen,  in  the  course  of 
this  narrative,  is  often  arrested  by  that  scruple. 
It  is  obviously  impossible  to  relate  the  history  of 
Alsace-Lorraine  during  the  last  forty-seven  years 
until  the  day  on  which  the  basely  vindictive  Ger- 
mans have  evacuated  the  country.  At  present, 
they  still  hold  too  many  hostages  to  make  it  pos- 
sible to  tell  the  whole  comforting  truth. 


202  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 


|: 


CHAPTER  X 

My  Defence  of  Alsace-Lorraine 

A  Speech — Receptions — Our  Guests. 

As  information^  I  think  it  will  be  well  if  I  repro- 
duce here  the  principal  passages  of  a  speech  which 
I  delivered  from  the  tribune  of  the  Reichstag  on 
January  28th,  1911,  on  the  occasion  of  the  debate 
on  the  constitutional  reform  of  Alsace-Lorraine. 
Readers  will  note  in  it  certain  artifices  of  language 
to  which  we  were  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  ex- 
press our  secret  thoughts,  but  for  which  we  should 
have  incurred  the  severities  of  the  law.  I  trans- 
late from  the  official  stenographic  report  of  the 
sitting. 

Gentlemen, — For  the  past  two  days  the  representa- 
tives of  the  Government  and  the  Liberal  and  Conserva- 
tive speakers  have  placed  our  population  upon  its  trial. 
To  be  just,  however,  one  must  distribute  responsibilities 
better.  The  great  obstacle  to  the  normal  development 
of  the  country  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  there  has 
been  with  us,  during  the  past  forty  years,  two  popula- 
tions, living  side  by  side,  without  understanding  each 
other,  each  of  whom  retain  their  customs  and  traditions. 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  203 

and  who  often  end  in  fighting.  We  have  not  the  slight- 
est intention  of  generalising,  A  large  number  of  our 
compatriots,  old  Germans,  have  allowed  themselves  to  be 
assimilated  ;  but  there  are  others  who  still  behave  as 
conquerors,  and  thence  arise  the  greatest  difficulties. 

We  are  constantly  asked  for  guarantees.  What  guar- 
antees must  we  give  you?  We  pay  our  taxes,  we  respect 
authority — as  far  as  it  merits  it — (loud  laughter),  and 
the  children  of  the  country  frequent  the  schools  and  the 
German  barracks.  (Interruptions  on  the  benches  of 
the  Federal  Council.)  Moreover,  all  the  men  who  have 
occupied  themselves  with  politics  during  the  past  twenty 
years  have  declared  a  hundred  times  that  they  accept 
the  present  situation.  What  more  do  you  require.'' 
With  what  thermometer  do  you  propose  to  measure  the 
heat  of  our  patriotism?  When  shall  we  come  of  age? 
When  shall  we  be  considered  worthy  of  sitting  at  the 
table  of  the  Empire  on  an  equality  with  the  members 
of  the  German  nation?  We  are  given  only  evasive  re- 
plies ;  you  refuse  to  recognise  our  rights.  And  if  the 
incident  of  which  so  much  has  been  said  had  not  oc- 
curred, others  would  have  been  found — (cries  of  "Very 
good!"  from  the  Socialist  benches) — to  deprive  us  of 
our  liberties.     (Continued  cries  from  the  Socialists.) 

Gentlemen,  even  a  marriage  of  convenience  may  be 
successful,  but  on  condition  that  one  of  the  partners 
does  not  constantly  ill-treat  the  other.  It  is  said  that 
there  are  women  who  like  to  be  beaten.  I  have  never 
heard  the  same  thing  said  about  a  nation.  As  M. 
Preiss  has  already  said,  you  have  annexed,  not  a  tribe 
of  negroes,  but  a  highly  civilised  people — even  much  more 


204  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

civilised,  in  those  days  at  least,  than  the  Junkers  of  the 
East,  allow  me  to  point  out  to  those  gentlemen  on  the 
Right.     (Cries  of  dissent.) 

Our  only  crime.  Gentlemen,  is  that  we  have  been 
French.  We  are  punished  because  we  have  lived  for 
two  hundred  years  under  French  domination. 

There  is  evidently  a  profound  abyss  between  the  two 
groups  of  our  population.  Especially  do  we  realise 
this  when  we  read  the  malignant  articles  in  which  a 
number  of  men  in  the  pay  of  the  country  calumniate 
our  population  and  misconstrue  the  smallest  incident — ■ 
(cries  of  dissent) — in  such  a  way  that  the  situation 
can  no  longer  be  sanely  judged. 

Gentlemen,  I  have  been  a  journalist  for  seventeen 
years.  I  have  often  been  reproached  for  being  violent 
and  sarcastic  in  my  writings.  Well,  I  can  certify  that 
all  my  articles  were  merely  replies  to  attacks.  (Herr 
Mandel,  "Even  your  articles  against  me?")  Yes,  Mr. 
Secretary  of  State,  even  those;  for  at  the  Landesaus- 
schuss,  as  elsewhere,  it  was  you  who  opened  fire.  There 
also  I  only  replied. 

Every  piece  of  child's  play  is  transformed  into  an 
affair  of  State.  Look  at  the  Wegelin  case  at  Miilhaus- 
en.  A  Swiss,  having  drunk  a  little  more  than  was  good 
for  him,  has  the  "Marseillaise"  played  and  engages  in 
a  little  ill-timed  demonstration  which  his  nearest  neigh- 
bours hardly  noticed.  In  consequence  of  this  incident, 
the  whole  heavy  machinery  of  the  law  is  set  in  movement 
and  the  entire  population  of  Alsace-Lorraine  is  pun- 
ished. The  afFair  of  the  flag  of  the  Colmar  theatre,  of 
which  Herr  Dirksen  has  spoken,  will  shortly  result  in  a 
trial,  and  once  more  we  shall  find  that  it  is  a  mere  trifle. 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  205 

Our  Secretary  of  State  has  also  been  a  victim  of  the 
correspondents  of  the  Pan-German  newspapers.  You 
know  the  story  of  Valentin's  dog,  and  how  on  that  occa- 
sion we  all  had  to  defend  Herr  von  Bulach.  The 
Statthalter  himself  has  been  the  object  of  attacks  on 
the  part  of  those  individuals  ;  for  every  statesman  who 
shows  us  the  least  kindness  is  immediately  denounced 
in  Berlin  and  nailed  to  the  pillory  in  the  Pan-German 
organs. 

There  you  have  the  principal  motive  for  our  earnest 
desire  to  be  at  last  masters  in  our  own  house.  We 
wish  to  put  an  end  to  these  denunciations  made  in  Ber- 
lin, we  no  longer  wish  to  be  directed  by  Berlin,  and  we 
know  very  well  that  on  the  day  our  officials  have  noth- 
ing more  to  expect  from  elsewhere,  they  will  end  by 
uniting  in  fellowship  with  us.  In  the  meanwhile,  they 
form  an  exclusive  caste,  intent  above  all  in  safeguard- 
ing its  privileges. 

Twenty-four  years  ago,  Herr  Petri,  Under-Secretary 
of  State,  already  protested  with  the  greatest  energy 
against  the  calumniatory  articles  of  the  Pan-German 
Press,  and  pointed  out  that  the  intention  of  their  au- 
thors was  to  prevent  us  attaining  our  autonomy.  There- 
fore, there  is  nothing  new  in  the  phenomenon. 

The  saddest  part  about  this  aifair.  Gentlemen,  is  that 
all  of  you  who  listen  to  me,  or  almost  all,  take  your 
knowledge  of  the  affairs  of  Alsace-Lorraine  from  that 
newspaper  correspondence.  ("Hear,  hear!")  The  ma- 
jority of  you  have  not  the  slightest  idea  of  what  is 
happening  with  us  and  have  never  taken  the  trouble 
to  go  and  make  inquiries  on  the  spot.  The  Pan-Ger- 
man  sheets   are  your  daily   bread   and  from  them  you 


206  BEHIND  THE  SCENES  I 

form  your  opinion  regarding  Alsace-Lorraine.  ("Hear, 
hear!") 

The  system  employed  up  to  now  has  failed.  You 
have  now  an  opportunity  of  doing  good  work  and  giving 
satisfaction  to  Alsace-Lorraine.  When  you  have 
granted  complete  autonomy  to  our  provinces,  all  the 
painful  incidents  of  recent  times  will  disappear.  We 
ask  merely  to  be  treated  as  equals  in  the  national  fam- 
ily into  which  we  were  forced  and  no  longer  to  be  the 
collective  property  of  the  States  but  co-proprietors  of 
the  Empire.  That  is  our  right.  And  if  it  sometimes 
happens  that  we  give  way  to  our  somewhat  fiery  tem- 
perament, if  events  which  displease  you  still  sometimes 
occur  in  Alsace-Lorraine,  recollect  that  the  French  have 
already  said  of  us — "A  headstrong  people,  but  sound 
of  heart."  '!i. 

And  now  I  will  ask  you  the  following  question,  "What 
has  been  done  to  merit  our  affection.'^" 

Immediately  after  the  annexation,  all  the  young  men 
of  Alsace-Lorraine  were  subjected  to  military  service,  .'^ 

which  resulted — and  rightly  so — in  an  emigration  en 
masse.  It  was  possible  to  act  otlierwise,  as  was  done 
in  the  case  of  Heligoland.  m 

After  that  came  the  incident  of  those  who  were  called 
upon  to  choose  their  nationality.  The  Under-Secretary 
of  State  himself  will  confirm  the  enormous  difficulties 
arising  through  the  law;  for  even  now  cases  crop  up 
in  which,  despite  all  his  knowledge,  it  is  difficult  for 
him  to  decide  the  question  of  nationality. 

Thirty-one  years  of  dictatorship!  Gentlemen,  it  is 
absolutely  impossible  for  you  to  fonn  an  idea  of  that 
dictatorship.      One  must  have  felt  its  weight  in  order 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  207 

to  be  able  to  realise  it.  I  myself  have  seen  the  suppres- 
sion of  two  prosperous  journals,  in  the  establishment 
of  which  I  assisted,  and  which  the  Statthalter  swept  out 
of  existence  by  a  stroke  of  his  pen.  A  capital  of  70,000 
francs  (£2,800)  was  thereby  destroyed. 

And  the  expulsions  !  They  were  not,  perhaps,  nu- 
merous; nevertheless,  those  who  were  driven  out  of  the 
country  were  German  citizens  to  whom  the  general  laws 
of  the  country  ought  to  have  been  applied. 

Then  there  was  the  question  of  passports.  Only  those 
people  through  whose  instrumentality  sons,  who  had 
been  summoned  to  their  parents'  death-bed,  were  ar- 
rested at  the  frontier  know  how  hard  that  exceptional 
measure  was.  Passports  were  no  longer  necessary  in 
Turkey,  and  I  believe  that  even  the  Young  Turks  have 
abolished  them. 

Gentlemen,  to  prove  to  you  with  what  little  regard  we 
are  treated,  I  will  call  your  attention  to  one  more 
fact.  For  the  past  four  years  the  Landesausschuss 
has  asked  every  session  that  refractory  conscripts  and 
deserters  of  the  early  years  following  the  annexation — 
that  is  to  say,  the  period  during  which  it  was  excusable 
to  leave  the  country  in  order  to  avoid  service  in  the 
German  Army — should  be  amnestied.  On  several  occa- 
sions, our  Government  has  given  us  the  assurance  that  it 
would  intervene  energetically  in  Berlin,  in  order  to  give 
us  satisfaction.  Up  to  this  very  day  nothing  has  come. 
Even  this  little  concession  is  not  made  to  us.  It  is  true 
that  the  military  authorities  are  opposed  to  it. 

And  now  let  us  speak  of  the  regulations  regarding 
shop-signs  and  advertisements.  Every  time  I  walk  un- 
der the  Lindens,  I  am  amused  by  the  fact  that  fifty  per 


208  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

cent,  of  the  sign-boards  to  be  seen  there  would  be  for- 
bidden by  the  police  with  us.     ("Hear,  hear!") 

Moreover,  Gentlemen,  I  am  going  to  prove  to  you 
that  our  government  is  the  first  to  break  the  law.  (Here 
the  speaker  drew  a  packet  of  cigarettes  from  his  pock- 
et.) Our  tradesmen  are  forbidden  to  sell  their  goods 
with  French  labels.  Now,  on  this  packet  of  cigarettes 
I  read  these  words  in  German  :  "Kaiserliche  Tabakman- 
ufaktur  Strasshurg.**  But  I  also  find  in  French,  ^*Eœ- 
portation — Importation,  20  cigarettes  élégantes. 
Maryland.  Le  Paquet,  50  pfennig.'^  (Prolonged  laugh- 
ter.) Those  gentlemen  of  the  Government  are  well 
aware,  therefore,  of  the  advantages  to  be  derived  from 
French  labels,  but  they  forbid  our  poor  tradesmen  to 
follow  their  example,  even  though  by  so  doing  they  ruin 
them. 

What  is  to  be  said,  too,  regarding  the  struggle 
against  the  teaching  of  French.''  Secretary  of  State 
Delbriick  told  you  the  day  before  yesterday  that  in 
1870  an  overwhelming  majority  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Alsace-Lorraine  spoke  German.  Under  those  conditions 
the  prohibition  of  French  in  our  frontier  country  was 
at  least  useless.  Only  those  among  us  who  feel  a  real 
need  of  this  language  take  the  trouble  to  learn  it.  Now, 
the  following  phenomenon  has  arisen.  Our  country  is 
inundated  with  bilingual  Swiss  and  Luxemburgers,  who 
come  and  take  away  from  our  young  men  the  best  posi- 
tions in  private  industry. 

I  shall  not  insist  on  the  subject  of  secret  police  re- 
ports and  black  lists.  These  latter,  Mr.  Secretary  of 
State,  still  exist,  notwithstanding  all  denials.  (Cries  of 
"Very  good!"  from  the  Socialists.) 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  209 

Nor"  shall  I  speak  of  the  constant  supervision  to 
which  our  leading  men  are  subjected.  If  I  have  taken 
all  these  measures  into  account,  it  is  solely  for  the  pur- 
pose of  establishing  the  fact  that  our  conquerors — for 
it  is  always  necessary  to  use  that  word — have  done 
everything  in  their  power  to  molest  us  in  our  habits  and 
customs.  And  yet  the  measures  of  a  general  nature  are 
even  less  irritating  than  the  pettifogging  litigation  to 
which  our  people  are  subjected  by  small  and  middle- 
class  officials.  The  Government  has  often  committed 
blunders,  but  these  become  insupportable  when  subordi- 
nates make  them  theirs — those  subordinates  who  operate 
in  the  Pan-German  way. 

And  now,  Gentlemen,  a  final  question.  What  are  the 
accusations  brought  against  us?  Nothing  must  be  hid- 
den! We  are  reproached  with  our  hostility  towards 
Germany  and  our  sympathy  for  France. 

We  do  not  oppose  Germanism  in  itself,  but  German- 
ism as  it  is  manifested  with  us — that  meddlesome,  petti- 
fogging Germanism  which  is  constantly  fighting  against 
our  customs  and  traditions  and  which  would  deprive  us 
of  all  our  liberties. 

Gentlemen,  it  is  said  that  confidence  inspires  confi- 
dence. It  is  equally  true  that  distrust  engenders  dis- 
trust. (Laughter.)  It  is  indisputable  that  for  the 
past  forty  years  we  have  incessantly  been  treated  with 
distrust.  And  yet  you  would  have  us  fall  into  your 
arms  and  overwhelm  you  with  declarations  of  love?  Cer- 
tainly not!     (Laughter.) 

Proof  of  the  maladroitness  of  the  methods  employed 
in  our  case  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  Herr  Preiss 
has  already  pointed  out  and  that  each  of  my  colleagues 


210  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

can  confirm.  The  young  generation  is  further  away 
than  ours  from  that  petty,  mean  and  tormenting  Ger- 
manism. Soon  we  shall  be  Moderates,  and  pointed  out 
as  models  for  the  newcomers.     (Prolonged  laughter.) 

Now,  as  regards  our  sympathy  for  France.  Gentle- 
men, first  of  all  allow  me  to  tell  you  that  we  have  no 
reason  for  detesting  our  former  Fatherland.  Under 
French  domination  we  were  very  well  treated.  We  en- 
joyed all  the  advantages  of  common  law.  The  people 
of  Alsace-Lorraine  attained  the  highest  positions.  Even 
since  the  war,  those  of  our  compatriots  who  have  emi- 
grated have  in  many  cases  had  a  brilliant  career  beyond 
the  Vosges.  Take,  for  instance,  the  higher  oflficers  of 
the  Army.  I  believe  that  in  the  French  Army  there  are 
no  fewer  than  150  Generals  in  active  service  or  unat- 
tached who  are  natives  of  the  annexed  provinces.  Now, 
Gentlemen,  count  those  of  Alsace-Lorraine  who  have  ob- 
tained official  positions  in  their  own  country.  I  can  tell 
you  beforehand  that  you  will  arrive  at  a  very  poor  per- 
centage. 

Our  young  people  affirm — whether  rightly  or  wrongly 
is  a  question  which  would  take  us  too  long  to  examine — 
that  even  when  at  school  they  are  systematically  placed 
in  the  background.  It  is  certain  that  in  none  of  the 
Confederated  States  could  one  find,  at  least  formerly, 
s^  many  pupils  who  failed  to  rise  in  their  forms.  It  is 
evident,  therefore,  that  there  is  a  system  in  force  to 
prevent  young  Alsace-Lorrainers  from  continuing  their 
studies  and  attaining  official  positions.  (Interruptions 
and  cries  of  "Give  your  proofs.") 

I  am  going  to  give  you  a  proof  which  nobody  can 
confute.     We  have  done  everything  in   our  power,  re- 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  211 

cently,  to  reserve  at  least  the  small  official  posts  for  our 
compatriots.  The  people  of  Alsace-Lorraine  have  al- 
ways been  considered  excellent  soldiers.  It  has  been  easy 
to  induce  them  to  re-enlist  when  lower  official  posts  were 
reserved  for  those  soldiers  who  had  served  twelve  years. 
Now,  what  happened  on  the  day  we  were  able  to  supply 
almost  the  whole  of  our  staff?  In  1904  the  Minister 
of  War  issued  a  decree  in  accordance  with  which  fifty 
per  cent,  of  small  official  posts  in  Alsace-Lorraine  were 
henceforth  to  be  reserved  for  re-enlisted  non-commis- 
sioned officers  of  the  other  Confederated  States,  on  the 
only  condition  that  they  had  done  their  service  in  the 
country  of  the  Empire.  Let  those  non-commissioned 
officers  ask  for  posts  in  their  own  country!  (Cries  of 
"Quite  right"  from  the  Centre.)  But  in  that  way  they 
attained  their  aim  :  Alsace-Lorraine  was  colonised  by 
old  Germans — a  veritable  Polish  colonisation,  although 
by  roundabout  means. 

When  people  speak  of  French  tendencies,  they  have 
again  another  object  in  view.  Your  present  and  ours 
are  parallel.  For  the  past  forty  years  we  have  belonged 
to  the  same  country  and  our  destinies  are  the  same.  But, 
Gentlemen,  our  pasts  fork  in  different  directions.  No- 
body can  prevent  our  recollections  going  back  to  the 
French  period,  and  it  is  quite  natural  that  these  recol- 
lections, which  were  often  glorious,  do  not  confonu  to 
yours.  How  can  you  ask  us,  for  instance,  to  celebrate 
the  anniversary  of  Sedan?  I  can  very  well  understand 
that  you  are  proud  of  the  recollection  of  that  day.  But 
you  cannot  ask  the  inhabitants  of  Alsace-Lorraine  to 
rejoice  on  the  anniversary  of  the  day  on  which  their 
fathers  and  brothers  were  beaten — no.  Gentlemen,  you 


212  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

cannot  ask  that  of  men  who  are  conscious  of  their  dig- 
nity. You  must  make  your  mind  clear  about  this — our 
history  is  not  your  history.  Let  it  suffice  that  you  hear 
us  say  that,  at  the  present  time,  our  economic  interests 
conform  to  yours. 

Finally,  Gentlemen,  our  sympathy  towards  France 
also  includes  our  double  culture.  We  cling  to  that  cul- 
ture, and  whatever  may  be  done  we  will  not  allow  it  to 
be  taken  away  from  us.  ("Hear,  hear!")  It  is  advan- 
tageous and  we  should  be  the  poorer  if  we  renounced  it. 
The  majority  among  you.  Gentlemen,  have  taken  a  good 
deal  of  trouble  to  learn  a  foreign  language,  in  order  to 
be  able  to  draw  upon  the  literary  treasures  of  that  lan- 
guage. Must  we,  who,  in  the  course  of  two  centuries, 
have  painfully  learnt  a  little  French,  give  it  up.''  No! 
Gentlemen,  we  shall  retain  what  we  have  acquired.  There 
is  nothing  subversive  in  that.  We  are  merely  appealing 
to  the  right  of  a  nation  which  respects  itself  and  would 
safeguard  its  intellectual  patrimony. 

I  was  very  amused  to  hear,  in  the  course  of  the  pre- 
ceding speeches,  that  the  Alsace-Lorraine  nation  pre- 
served, on  the  whole,  a  calm  and  loyal  attitude.  It  ap- 
pears that  there  are  only  a  few  abettors  of  disorder — 
(laughter) — and  it  is  because  of  these  that  the  whole 
legislative  machinery  must  be  set  in  motion.  Gentle- 
men, you  yourselves  do  not  believe  it.  An  Empire  of  66 
million  inliabitants  is  frightened  of  a  handful  of  agita- 
tors in  a  province  where  80,000  bayonets  are  planted? 
If  what  was  said  in  those  speeches  partly  applies  to 
myself — I  hope  I  shall  not  be  counted  among  the  abet- 
tors of  disorder — I  shall  be  more  than  proud  of  having 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  213 

thus  thrown  the  whole  Empire  into  a  flurry.  (Laugh- 
ter.) 

Gentlemen,  we  find  ourselves  enclosed  within  a  vicious 
circle.  We  are  ill-treated  because  we  are  not  satisfied, 
and  discontent  increases  among  us  because  our  ill-treat- 
ment is  continued.     ("Hear,  hear,"  and  laughter.) 

The  system  employed  up  to  now  has  failed.  You 
have  now  an  opportunity  of  doing  good  work,  of  giving 
us  an  Alsace-Lorraine  satisfied  with  its  lot. 

Readers  will  have  noticed  in  the  preceding 
speech  the  stress  I  employed  when  speaking  of 
the  two  populations  which  live  side  by  side  in 
Alsace-Lorraine  without  understanding  each  oth- 
er and  without  interpénétration.  Nothing  exas- 
perated the  immigrants  more  than  that  statement, 
to  which  we  returned  incessantly.  Thus  it  was 
that,  in  my  newspaper,  I  had  a  special  rubric 
entitled  "Their  Culture,"  in  which,  from  day  to 
day,  I  pointed  out  the  differences  between  the 
customs,  habits  and  traditions  of  the  Alsace-Lor- 
raine population  and  those  of  the  Germans  estab- 
lished in  our  country.  The  mimigrants  would 
very  much 'have  preferred  sledge-hammer  pro- 
tests to  these  perpetual  pin-pricks,  against  which 
they  could  not  defend  themselves,  and  in  the  giv- 
ing of  which  two  or  three  of  my  collaborators, 
especially  Hansi,  excelled. 

For  want  of  being  able  to  shout  "Long  live 


214  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

France!"  we  had  thus  come  to  repeat  incessantly 
''Down  with  German  culture!"  We  were  not 
in  want  of  pretexts.  If  need  be,  we  brought  them 
forth. 

Above,  I  spoke  of  a  reception  at  the  Chancel- 
lor's Palace.  Every  year  the  Secretaries  of  State 
also  gave  a  Bierabend — a  Beer  Evening.  When 
I  went  to  the  Reichstag  for  the  first  time,  an 
usher  begged  me  to  give  him  thirty  of  my  visit- 
ing cards. 

"Why,  in  the  name  of  all  that's  wonderful?" 
I  asked. 

"It's  the  custom.  Your  cards  will  be  sent  to  the 
President,  Vice-President  and  Secretaries,  to  the 
Chancellor  and  his  principal  collaborators." 

I  made  inquiries,  and  found  indeed  that  it  was 
usual,  at  the  beginning  of  each  session,  for  the 
members  to  leave  their  visiting  cards  at  the  resi- 
dences of  the  chief  officials  of  the  Empire,  through 
the  intermediary  of  the  executive  of  the  Reichstag. 
So  I  observed  the  formality,  and  a  few  days  later 
received,  also  from  the  usher's  hand,  a  number 
of  paste-boards  of  all  sizes,  by  means  of  which 
the  owners  responded  to  my  politeness. 

Later,  I  learnt  what  this  exchange  of  official 
amiability  signified.  A  few  Socialist  Deputies 
had  given  an  insolent  reply  to  the  invitations  sent 
them  to  attend  official  receptions.     Someone  had 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  215 

therefore  imagined  the  plan  of  leaving  visiting- 
cards,  which  meant,  "If  you  invite  me,  I  am  quite 
disposed  to  attend  your  evening  receptions."  The 
Socialists,  at  least  those  of  former  days,  did  not 
leave  their  cards  on  the  high  officials  of  the  State, 
who  could  henceforth  abstain  from  sending  them 
invitations  without  breaking  the  rules  of  polite- 
ness. 

Like  my  colleagues,  I  therefore  regularly  re- 
ceived the  little  printed  invitations  begging  me  to 
come  and  take,  on  such-and-such  a  day,  a  glass 
of  beer  at  his  Excellency's. 

"A  glass  of  beer"  may  appear  to  be  a  some- 
what Spartan  repast.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  we 
found  the  refreshment  rooms  in  the  official  salons 
well  provided  with  food  and  drink,  which  the 
guests  pillaged  impudently.  During  these  re- 
ceptions I  have  witnessed  amazingly  comical 
scenes.  The  tables  on  which  the  eatables  were 
piled  were  literally  besieged.  German  voracity 
is  beyond  all  moderation  and  deficient  in  all  sense 
of  shame.  Certain  members  of  the  Reichstag — 
and  not  the  least  important  of  them — heaped 
ham,  pies,  Russian  salad,  cream  tarts  and  other 
"delicacies"  on  their  plates  to  the  point  of  bring- 
ing the  cunning  construction  of  all  these  dainties 
to  a  state  of  smash.  Then,  duly  loaded,  they  in- 
stalled themselves  at  little  tables  and  devoured 


216  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

all  these  dissimilar  cates  pell-mell.  But  it  was 
chiefly  the  refreshment  counter  where  alcoholic 
drinks  were  dispensed  that  sustained  a  regular 
siege.  One  evening,  I  got  immense  amusement 
by  observing  the  "operations"  of  a  Bavarian  col- 
league who,  having  succeeded  in  getting  in  the 
front  row  of  those  crowding  to  the  table,  gulped 
down,  one  after  the  other,  no  fewer  than  ten 
glasses  of  champagne  and  still  continued  to  hold 
out  his  empty  glass  to  the  astonished  waiter.  These 
scenes  of  gluttony  and  drunkenness  delighted  us. 
You  might  have  imagined  that  these  men,  who, 
however,  belonged  to  the  best  German  families, 
had  had  nothing  either  to  drink  or  eat  for  a  week. 

My  colleagues  and  I  long  hesitated  over  the 
question  as  to  whether  or  not  we  ought  to  attend 
these  official  receptions.  After  due  reflection,  we 
came  to  the  common  agreement  that  it  would  be 
well  for  us  to  attend  them  assiduously,  because 
there,  more  than  anj^^here  else,  was  it  possible 
for  us  to  obtain  useful  information.  A  half-drunk 
German  is  very  communicative. 

A  strange  adventure  happened  to  me  the  first 
time  I  went  to  the  Chancellery.  The  reception 
— a  strictly  Parliamentary  one — began  at  9  p.  m. 
Thinking  that  politeness  demanded  punctuality,  I 
entered  the  Wilhelmstrasse  Palace  exactly  at  the 
hour.     In  the  cloak-room,  not  a  hat  was  to  be 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  217 

seen  Î  At  the  top  of  the  staircase  was  a  succession 
of  briUiantly  illuminated  salons,  in  which  I  could 
see  rows  of  gold-laced  lackeys,  who,  as  I  passed, 
bowed  low.  Very  much  put  out,  I  advanced  hap- 
hazard, whereupon  an  orderly  officer  rushed  for- 
ward, asked  for  my  name,  and  introduced  me  into 
the  last  drawing-room,  where  Princess  von  Biilow 
was  sitting  by  the  side  of  a  lady  companion.  The 
introduction  took  place  and  a  conversation  was 
started — in  French.  Thus  I  remained  for  ten 
minutes  face  to  face  with  the  Chancellor's  wife. 
I  swore,  that  evening,  that  never  again  would  I 
be  there  to  time. 

Receptions  were  almost  always  held  on  the  eve 
of  an  important  vote.  It  was  before  a  well-loaded 
table  and  with  glass  in  hand  that  the  Chancellor 
and  his  collaborators  tried  to  break  down  the  final 
resistance  of  the  Opposition  and  to  facilitate  prof- 
itable compromises.  Recalcitrant  Deputies  were 
the  object  of  the  most  engaging  attentions.  To 
a  disinterested  guest,  the  scene  presented  the 
greatest  interest.  Most  flattered  by  the  amiable 
open-heartedness  and  smiling  familiarity  of  the 
official  personages,  the  Gerstenbergers  and  Erz- 
bergers  visibly  blew  themselves  out  like  the  frog 
in  the  fable.  The  party  leaders,  already  won  over 
to  the  policy  of  the  Government,  looked  with 
complacent  eyes  on  the  groups  in  which  their 


218  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

work  was  being  completed.  On  all  sides  the  Op- 
position showed  a  spirit  of  "comradeship,"  in  an- 
swer to  the  Chancellor's  smile. 

For  a  long  time  they  deigned  "to  honour"  us 
with  the  same  solicitations.  Later,  when  it  be- 
came quite  clear  that  our  national  opposition  was 
irreducible,  they  showed  us  less  assiduous  atten- 
tion. 

It  was  during  a  garden-party  at  the  Chan- 
cellery that  I  found  myself  alone  with  Admiral 
von  Tirpitz.  It  was  at  the  time  when  the  French 
Navy,  under  the  Pelletan  Ministry,  was  passing 
through  a  dangerous  crisis. 

The  great  head  of  the  German  Navy  is  a  broad- 
shouldered  giant  with  a  small  head  enframed  by 
huge  whiskers.  One  is  quite  surprised  to  hear 
a  thin  little  voice — that  of  a  child  or  a  eunuch — 
issue  from  his  powerful  frame.  The  Admiral 
spoke  to  me  about  the  French  Navy.  Now  it  is 
a  curious  phenomenon  that,  far  from  rejoicing 
over  its  decadence,  he  seemed  to  regret  it  sincerely. 
It  was  a  case  of  the  artist  who  is  pained  to  see 
a  fine  picture  go  to  wrack  and  ruin,  although  it 
may  be  the  work  of  a  competitor.  I  have  never 
better  understood  the  method  and  obstinacy  which 
the  creator  of  the  German  Navy  brought  to  his 
audacious  enterprise.  Tirpitz  is  a  born  sailor. 
His  ships  are  everything  to  him.    With  so  keen 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  219 

an  enthusiast  as  this  at  the  head  of  the  German 
Admiralty,  the  Imperial  Navy  would  soon,  if 
England  had  allowed  him  the  time,  have  con- 
quered the  first  place  on  the  seas. 

It  was  Tirpitz,  indeed,  who  conceived  the  dream 
of  endowing  Germany  with  a  powerful  colonial 
empire  and  assuring  its  maritime  hegemony.  We 
are  all  acquainted  with  William  II's  celebrated 
phrase,  "Our  future  is  on  the  water."  The  Ad- 
miral-in- Chief  was  certainly  its  inspirer.  At  the 
time  when  I  conversed  for  nearly  half  an  hour 
with  Tirpitz,  he,  who  detested  England  above  all 
nations,  naively  hoped  that  a  reconciliation  be- 
tween Germany  and  France  might  be  prepared. 
Perhaps  it  was  also  for  this  reason  that  he  de- 
plored the  lamentable  state  of  the  instrument 
which  he  thought  he  might  find  useful  in  conquer- 
ing "the  hereditary  enemy." 

In  1906  it  happened  to  be  our  turn  to  invite 
the  members  of  the  Federal  Council  and  the 
Reichstag  to  a  soirée,  and  under  the  following 
circumstances.  Our  Alsace-Lorraine  wine-grow- 
ers complained  bitterly  of  the  fact  that  their  re- 
markable vintages  were  systematically  ignored  in 
Germany,  where,  however,  the  wines  of  the  Rhine 
and  the  Moselle  were  sold  in  all  the  restaurants 
at  very  remunerative  prices.  It  looked  as  though 
the  big  wine  merchants  of  Treves,  Cologne,  and 


220  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

Mayence  had  formed  a  conspiracy  of  silence  on 
the  subject  of  our  most  celebrated  vintages.  It 
was  necessary  to  defeat  it. 

So  the  idea  occurred  to  Preiss  to  organise  a 
tasting  of  wines  in  the  Reichstag.  Our  German 
colleagues  welcomed  the  proposal  enthusiastical- 
ly. The  principal  growers  of  Alsace-Lorraine 
placed  at  our  disposal  1,500  bottles  of  their  best 
brands.  Moreover,  we  obtained  from  the  Strass- 
burg  Parliament  a  subvention  which  enabled  us 
to  organise  a  brilliant  evening  reception. 

The  day  was  fixed  with  the  President.  The  96- 
yard-long  gallery  was  transformed  into  a  restau- 
rant. A  luxurious  refreshment-room  was  in- 
stalled under  the  big  dome,  and  there,  side  by 
side  with  mountains  of  Miinster  cheeses  and  suc- 
culent Strassburg  charcuterie,  the  1,500  bottles, 
with  their  gold  and  silver  helmets,  were  drawn 
up  in  thirty-two  companies  ready  to  file  off  (for 
there  were  thirty-two  different  vintages  to  be 
tasted  ) .  An  orchestra  was  to  facilitate  the  diges- 
tion of  our  guests  by  enveloping  them  in  floods 
of  harmony. 

At  eight  o'clock,  drawn  up  on  both  sides  of  the 
entrance,  the  members  for  Alsace-Lorraine  were 
busy  shaking  the  hands  of  their  guests  :  the  Chan- 
cellor, the  Secretaries  of  State,  the  members  of 
the  Federal  Council,  and  the  Deputies  of  all  the 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  221 

groups,  for  on  that  day  the  Socialists  had  given 
up  the  idea  of  boycotting  Parliamentary  evenings. 

Our  good  wines  performed  miracles.  At  eleven 
o'clock  Bebel  was  sitting  between  Prince  von 
Biilow  and  Count  von  Posadowsky,  whilst 
Scheidemann  and  another  revolutionaiy  Deputy 
were  delivering  wildly  ridiculous  speeches. 

Good  old  Groeber  ate  a  whole  Munster,  repeat- 
ing as  he  did  so,  "It's  the  king  of  cheeses."  More- 
over, he  washed  it  down  with  two  bottles  of  red 
Kitterle,  which  he  pronounced  to  be  "the  king  of 
wines." 

There  were  rather  more  than  three  hundred 
persons  in  the  great  hall.  At  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning  1,400  bottles  were  empty.  Don't  forget 
that  our  wines  contain  between  ten  and  eleven 
degrees  of  alcohol.  At  midnight  I  left  the  Reichs- 
tag, accompanied  by  Secretary  of  State  von  Posa- 
dowsky. In  the  Thiergarten  we  encountered  a 
Deputy  tenderly  embracing  a  tree  and  making 
vain  efforts  to  preserve  his  equilibrium. 

Never  before  had  the  Reichstag  echoed  with 
such  noisy  but  also  with  such  cordial  effusions. 

I  must  add,  to  the  honour  of  our  wines,  that 
the  next  day  several  of  my  colleagues,  including 
the  Socialist  Hue,  said  to  me: 

"It's  a  curious  thing.    Yesterday  evening  I  was 


222  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

as  round  as  a  ball,  yet  to-day  I've  not  got  the 
slightest  trace  of  seediness  (Katzenjammer) ." 

Our  wines,  therefore,  scored  the  greatest  suc- 
cess at  the  Reichstag.  Result  of  our  tasting:  not 
a  single  order  was  given  to  our  wine-growers, 
neither  by  the  members  of  the  Government,  nor 
by  the  Deputies,  nor  by  the  restaurant  and  hotel 
keepers  of  Berlin  !  They  continued  to  boycott  our 
natural  products  in  favour  of  the  adulterated 
wines  of  the  Moselle  and  the  Rhine. 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  223 


CHAPTER  XI 

War  Aims  Foreshadowïîd 

The  German  Artillery — General  von  Einem's  cnrieus  Decla- 
ration— A  visit  to  Count  Zeppelin — The  Vulnerability 
of  his  Dirigibles — A  Warlike  Banquet. 

In  1903  we  were  invited  to  go  on  an  excursion  to 
the  Jutterbock  manœuvring  ground.  A  hundred 
Deputies,  accompanied  by  the  Minister  of  War 
and  a  few  general  officers,  took  a  special  train 
that  had  been  reserved  for  them.  The  military 
authorities  wished  to  prove  to  them  the  power  of 
the  new  ammunition  for  field  artillery.  When 
we  arrived,  we  were  sho^Mi  six  guns,  the  wheels 
of  which  had  been  buried  up  to  the  axles.  After 
indirect  firing  at  moving  targets,  which  we  could 
easily  observe  with  our  glasses,  the  guns  were  car- 
ried by  soldiers  to  the  summit  of  a  hillock,  where 
the  artillerymen,  after  getting  their  spades  to 
work  and  throwing  a  few  spadefuls  of  sand 
around  the  wheels,  proceeded  to  give  us  an  exhi- 
bition of  direct  rapid  firing.  Now,  I  noticed  that 
the  pieces  recoiled  a  good  deal  at  each  shot — exe- 
cuted, indeed,  a  veritable  St.  Vitus's  Dance — and 


224  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

that  it  was  constantly  necessary  to  rectify  the 
aim. 

At  the  luncheon  which  was  afterwards  served 
at  the  officers'  quarters,  it  chanced  that  General 
von  Einem,  the  Minister  of  War,  arriving  late, 
sat  down  next  to  me.  Von  Einem,  who  has  been 
a  good  deal  talked  about  since  the  opening  of  the 
present  war  (he  commands  a  group  of  armies 
before  Soissons),  is  tall,  thin,  fair,  and  graceful. 
He  possesses  nothing  of  the  stiffness  of  the  Prus- 
sian officer.  He  is  easy  of  approach  and  his  po- 
liteness is  unconstrained.  He  had  formerly  been 
in  garrison  at  Colmar  as  a  major  in  the  artillery, 
so  we  immediately  found  a  subject  of  conversa- 
tion. Then,  quite  naturally,  we  came  to  speak 
of  war.  I  did  not  hide  from  the  Minister  the 
surprise  I  had  experienced  on  noting  the  lack  of 
stability  of  the  German  guns. 

"I  know  that,"  replied  the  General;  "but  our 
pieces  of  artillery  are  very  much  lighter  and  espe- 
cially much  less  complicated  than  our  neighbours'  | 
75  gun.  The  mechanism  of  the  French  gun  is 
so  delicate  that  a  workman-specialist  has  to  be 
attached  to  each  piece  (sic)." 

The  Minister  afterwards  made  the  following 
curious  declaration  to  me: 

"When  armies  reach  the  figure  of  four  million 
combatants  on  one  side  and  three  million  and  a 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  225 

half  on  the  other,  numbers  no  longer  play  the 
same  rôle.  The  armament  is  equal  in  the  two 
countries.  The  whole  question  is  whether  the 
French  will  find  a  second  Napoleon  and  whether 
we  shall  have  a  second  Moltke.  Now,  we  know 
nothing  about  that,  for  neither  on  the  one  side  nor 
on  the  other  is  there  a  general  who  has  command- 
ed on  a  sixty  kilometre  front." 

Four  million  German  combatants  !  A  sixty  kilo- 
metre front  !  Was  the  General  sincere  when  men- 
tioning these  figures  to  me,  or  was  his  intention 
to  lead  me  into  error?  I  cannot  say.  I  am  rather 
disposed  to  believe,  however,  that  at  that  time  the 
German  Staff  did  not  yet  foresee  either  the  mobil- 
isation of  ten  million  men  or,  especially,  the  for- 
midable extension  the  battles  of  the  present  war 
were  to  assume. 

A  few  years  later,  I  joined  in  another  collec- 
tive excursion.  The  first  German  dirigible  had 
just  accomplished  a  voyage  from  Friedrichshaven 
to  Berlin,  and  the  performance,  besides  provok- 
ing the  wildest  enthusiasm,  had  raised  the  most 
extraordinary  hopes  throughout  the  whole  of 
Germany.  People  abroad  will  never  know  how 
greatly  the  invention  of  the  Zeppelin,  or,  to  be 
more  accurate,  the  ingenious  adjustment  by  Count 
Zeppelin  of  a  French  invention,  contributed  to 


226  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

favour  the  Pan-Germanist  movement  in  the  Em- 
ph'e. 

The  first  "cruisers  of  the  air"  had,  however, 
been  destroyed  or  damaged  by  sudden  gusts  of 
wind.  Zeppelin,  who  had  sacrificed  the  whole 
of  his  fortune  in  constructing  them,  found  himself 
penniless.  Therefore  the  authorities,  in  order  to 
awaken  the  interest  of  Parliament  in  dirigibles, 
hit  on  the  idea  of  organising  the  journey  in  which 
I  took  part,  accompanied  by  all  my  colleagues 
of  Alsace-Lorraine. 

The  large  hotels  of  Constance  were  reserved 
for  members  of  Parliament.  It  was  in  July. 
Favoured  with  splendid  weather,  a  special  steam- 
er took  us  to  the  WiJrttemberg  side  of  the  lake. 
Never  have  I  seen  a  larger  assembly  of  people. 
The  lake  was  covered  with  steamers  and  boats 
adorned  with  flags,  and  so  loaded  with  spectators 
that  they  were  in  danger  of  sinking.  The  façades 
of  the  houses  of  Friedrichshaven  were  hidden  un- 
der garlands  and  flags.  Every  moment  bursts  of 
cheering  came  from  the  huge  crowd.  When  Count 
Zeppelin's  white  peaked  cap  appeared  on  the 
landing  stage,  it  seemed  to  me  as  though  the 
heavens  were  going  to  fall  under  the  formidable 
and  continued  shouting  of  "Hoch!  Hoch!  Hoch!" 

The  inventor,  a  small-statured,  corpulent,  bus- 
tling man,  very  supple  in  spite  of  his  advanced 


f 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  227 

age,  replied  to  these  ovations  with  a  nervous  ges- 
ture. He  was  visibly  satisfied  to  have  his  revenge  ; 
for  Parseval,  an  advocate  of  balloons  with  a  sup- 
ple envelope,  had  caused  him  much  anxiety.  He 
received  us  with  the  greatest  cordiality.  Under 
the  direction  of  himself  and  his  engineers,  we  im- 
mediately set  off  for  the  airship  building  yard. 

An  enormous  carcase  constructed  of  aluminium 
rods  was  shown  us.  I  must  confess  that,  on  exam- 
ining this  light  structure,  I  had  the  impression 
of  being  face  to  face  with  a  giant's  plaything. 
Everything  seemed  fragile  in  that  ingenious  but 
unstable  assemblage  of  thin  plates  barely  two 
to  three  millimetres  thick.  Even  the  few  main 
girders  looked  thin  and  slender.  How  w^ell  I  could 
then  understood  that  a  shock  against  a  mere  apple- 
tree  had,  a  few  weeks  before,  shattered  one  of  the 
monsters  they  were  going  to  show  us! 

A  few  hundred  yards  from  the  hangars,  a  com- 
pleted dirigible  was  held  fast  to  the  ground.  This 
was  the  Zeppelin  in  which  a  few  privileged  guests 
w^ere  to  take  their  seats  and  make  an  hour's  excur- 
sion above  the  lake.  Arrangements  had  been  made 
for  six  voyages.  As  not  more  than  a  dozen  pas- 
sengers, in  addition  to  the  crew,  could  be  taken 
up  each  time,  lots  were  drawn  in  order  not  to 
arouse  feelings  of  jealousy.  Preiss's  name  was 
drawn.    I  was  less  lucky.    Just  as  I  was  resign- 


228  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

ing  myself  to  the  idea  of  not  getting  a  ride  in  the 
Zeppelin,  an  engineer,  who  had  explained  all  the 
details  of  the  mechanism  of  the  airship  to  me, 
said,  smiling: 

"Keep  close  to  me.  Perhaps  I  shall  manage  all 
the  same  to  get  you  on  board." 

Indeed,  at  the  fifth  voyage,  Count  Zeppelin, 
who  each  time  verified  the  weight  of  his  passen- 
gers, leaned  over  the  edge  of  the  car  and  ex- 
claimed with  a  vexed  air: 

"There  is  a  deficiency  of  fifty  kilos.  !" 

"Exactly  my  weight,"  I  cried. 

"Ascend  and  quick's  the  word,"  replied  the 
Count. 

I  told  an  outrageous  lie,  for  I  weighed  twenty 
Mlos.  more. 

Once  installed  in  the  middle  car,  I  understood 
why  they  had  accepted  me  as  ballast.  The  inven- 
tor, holding  in  his  hand  the  list  of  passengers  with 
their  respective  weights  opposite  their  names, 
assigned  us  our  places  in  such  a  way  as  to  distrib- 
ute the  load  equally,  and  urged  us  not  to  change 
our  seats  under  any  pretext  whatsoever,  as  well 
as  not  to  make  any  inordinate  movements.  This 
terrible  war  machine  was  decidedly  still  more  un- 
stable than  I  had  imagined  on  first  seeing  it. 

At  the  order  "Let  go  I"  the  moorings  were  rap- 
idly removed.    At  the  same  time  streams  of  water 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  229 

came  from  the  sides  of  the  envelope.  It  was  ex- 
plained to  me  that,  on  coming  to  earth,  long  con- 
duits inside  the  framework  were  filled  with  water, 
in  order  exactly  to  ballast  the  balloon,  which,  how- 
ever, owing  to  the  fragility  of  its  cars,  could  not 
be  allowed  to  touch  the  ground. 

The  dirigible  rose  to  an  altitude  of  about  200 
metres.  It  answered  well  to  the  rudders,  both  as 
regards  direction  and  height.  Movement  was 
very  smooth.  On  the  other  hand,  the  noise  of  the 
motors  and  the  four  propellers  was  deafening. 

Zeppelin  and  Professor  Hergesell,  of  Strass- 
burg,  went  with  us  and  gave  full  explanations. 
Among  the  things  they  told  us,  I  remember  a 
curious  story,  related  by  the  inventor. 

"A  few  days  ago,  in  just  such  marvellous 
weather  as  this,"  he  said,  "I  was  peacefully  trav- 
elling along  when,  suddenly,  on  arriving  above 
the  little  hills  that  encircle  the  Rhine  at  the  exit 
to  the  lake,  the  dirigible,  as  though  seized  by  the 
invisible  hand  of  a  giant,  made  a  bound  of  600 
metres  into  the  air.  I  was  terrified.  Who  would 
ever  have  thought  that  those  shght  undulations  of 
the  ground,  forming  a  chimney,  would  have  pro- 
voked such  a  powerful  eddy-wind?" 

Certainly  this  invention,  by  means  of  which  the 
Germans  expected  to  conquer  the  empire  of  the 
air,  lacked  stability.     I  am  aware  that  the  most 


230  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

recent  Zeppelins  are  stronger  and  better  balanced, 
but  they  are,  nevertheless,  very  vulnerable  and  at 
the  mercy  of  so  many  atmospheric  accidents 
that  we  should  do  well  not  to  exaggerate  their 
military  value. 

The  spectacle  we  enjoyed  from  the  dirigible 
was  marvellous. 

In  the  evening,  our  steamer  took  us  back  to 
Constance,  where  a  big  banquet  was  given  by 
Count  Zeppelin.  I  shall  say  nothing  about  the 
enthusiastic  toasts  which  were  drunk.  "The  fu- 
ture of  Germany  was  not  only  on  the  water,  but 
also  in  the  air.  England  would  have  to  behave 
herself,  since,  henceforth,  a  fleet  of  dirigibles 
would  in  a  few  hours  be  able  to  transport  an 
army  to  London."  This  and  many  another  won- 
derful plan  was  to  be  divined  in  the  speeches 
delivered  by  both  the  Count  and  his  admirers.  One 
could  only  laugh  at  these  ridiculous  exaggerations. 

On  the  other  hand,  I  was  deeply  impressed  by 
the  following  incident.  At  the  end  of  the  dinner, 
the  300  persons  present — members  of  the  Federal 
Council,  high  officials  and  Deputies — rose  and 
sang  in  chorus  "Deutschland  iiber  Allés."  The 
almost  religious  gravity  of  their  faces,  the  fire 
kindled  in  their  eyes,  and  the  warlike  ardour  in 
their  voices  were  a  revelation  to  me.  These  were 
no  longer  children    chanting    the    Pan- German 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  231 

hymn,  but  all  the  directors  of  Imperial  policy, 
and  on  hearing  them  thus  affirm  their  monstrous 
ambitions,  in  the  form  of  a  war  song,  I  realised 
that  the  time  was  not  far  distant  when  the  great 
international  drama  would  be  enacted  before  the 
gaze  of  the  terrified  world. 

I  was,  moreover,  to  experience  the  same  tragic 
impression  when,  in  1913,  the  centenary  of  the 
Battle  of  Leipzig  provoked  throughout  the  Em- 
pire demonstrations  which  were  quite  as  grotesque, 
but  also  quite  as  threatening. 

A  mind  formed  in  the  Latin  school  has  a  diffi- 
culty in  comprehending  the  German  mentality. 
Union  among  Germanic  nations  has  not  been 
brought  about,  as  in  the  case  of  the  French  and 
the  Italians,  by  free  consent  of  the  people,  but  by 
force.  Barely  two  and  a  half  centuries  ago  Prus- 
sia was  only  a  wretched  little  principality.  It 
is  by  right  of  conquest  that  it  has  established  its 
hegemony  in  Germany.  To-day  it  still  recog- 
nises no  other  methods  of  domination  than  those 
of  brute  force.  Southern  Germany  does  not  love 
the  Prussian:  it  fears  him.  Nevertheless,  it  has 
no  idea  of  kicking  against  the  pricks.  Foreign 
races  within  the  Empire — Poles,  Danes,  and  the 
people  of  Alsace-Lorraine — have  always  resisted 
Prussian  enterprise.  The  German  nationalities 
have  resigned  themselves  to  accepting  it.     The 


232  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

passivity  of  the  German  naturally  inclines  him 
to  these  abdications  when  face  to  face  with  a  more 
powerful  ethnical  group.  His  resignation  does 
not  go  as  far  as  an  enthusiastic  rally;  it  is  rather 
a  case  of  submitting  to  the  inevitable.  The  Prus- 
sian is  a  disagreeable  master;  but  he  is  the  master 
all  the  same.  Therefore,  what  is  the  good  of 
setting  up  a  resistance  which  can  bring  no  imme- 
diate result?  The  man  of  the  North  knows  the 
temperament  of  the  Southerner.  Therefore  he 
puts  on  the  screw  and  finds  it  pays  very  well. 
Hence  the  unbelievable  impertinence  of  Prussian 
statesmen,  who,  every  time  there  is  a  slight  oppo- 
sition in  Parliament,  immediately  crack  the  whip, 
knowing  full  well  beforehand  that  they  will  at 
once  obtain  the  most  passive  obedience. 


li 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  233 


CHAPTER  XII 

Some  Prussian  Types 

Haeringen,  Falkenhayn,  and  Deimling — 1905 — Their  Ur- 
banity— Their  Mentality — The  Galleries — Religious 
Legislation — Homogeneous  Parties. 

During  the  present  war,  when  reading  the  offi- 
cial communiqués,  I  have  come  across  the  names 
of  a  number  of  general  officers  whose  acquaintance 
I  made  in  the  Reichstag.  General  von  Haer- 
ingen, the  brutal  destroyer  of  Rheims  Cathedral, 
replaced  von  Einem  at  the  INIinistry  of  War.  He 
is  a  big  man  with  a  vulgar  face  and  a  slouching 
walk,  and  was  always  tightly  laced  in  a  uniform 
too  small  for  him.  He  spoke  very  badly,  but  in 
a  hard,  commanding  tone.  On  the  Budget  Com- 
mittee, as  well  as  during  plenary  sittings,  this 
gold-laced  brute  displayed  the  most  insulting  dis- 
dain for  the  representatives  of  the  people.  The 
phrases  which  he  painfully  drawled  out  were 
chiefly  distinguished  for  the  cold  impertinence  he 
intentionally  put  into  them. 

His  departure  was  welcomed  by  all  parties  as 
a  deliverance.     It  is  true  that  Falkenhayn,  who 


234  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

succeeded  him,  was  to  make  him  regretted.  This 
General,  indeed,  did  not  make  the  sHghtest  at- 
tempt to  hide  his  horror  of  Parliament  and  its 
principles.  He  sought  for  conflicts,  and,  having 
succeeded  in  provoking  them,  it  was  with  a  "surly 
delectation,"  as  theologians  say,  that  he  dragged 
them  out.  Tlje  Reichstag,  in  his  eyes,  was  the 
enemy,  on  which  he  made  a  frontal  attack,  with 
all  his  big  guns  in  action. 

Falkenhayn's  physique  fits  his  employment.  He 
is  big  and  lean  ;  his  face,  with  a  nose  like  an  eagle's 
beak,  is  long  and  angular;  his  gestures  are  sharp 
and  peremptory;  and  his  shrill,  jerky  voice  is  that 
of  a  non-commissioned  officer.  The  Zabern  affair 
was  his  triumph.  In  the  presence  of  the  early 
condemnatory  attitude  of  Parliament,  the  Chan- 
cellor capitulated.  Bethmann-Hollweg  hastened, 
in  fact,  to  the  Emperor  and  obtained  from  the 
Sovereign  a  severe  reprimand  against  the  officers 
of  the  99th  Infantry  Regiment.  But  Falken- 
hajm  would  not  accept  this  retreat.  He  demand- 
ed, imperiously,  that  the  Statthalter  and  his  col- 
laborators be  removed.  At  his  orders,  the  Council 
of  War  acquitted  Colonel  von  Reuter  and  Lieu- 
tenants Schatt  and  von  Forster.  When,  finally, 
the  incident  once  more  came  before  the  Imperial 
Parliament,  it  was  the  Minister  of  War  who  re- 
plied to  the  questioners.    He  did  so  with  that  cold 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  235 

impertinence  and  haughty  disdain  which  charac- 
terise the  Prussian  officer.  His  eulogy  of  the  Ger- 
man lieutenant,  of  that  young  sensualist  who  de- 
liberately tramples  on  all  laws,  but  in  whom  Prus- 
sia places  all  her  hopes,  provoked  unanimous  pro- 
tests. And  yet  the  domesticated  Reichstag  went 
back  on  its  first  vote,  and  Falkenhayn,  because 
he  had  cracked  his  whip  in  the  ears  of  all  those 
knaves  who  crouched  and  cringed  before  militar- 
ism, registered  a  fresh  triumph  over  the  astounded 
parliamentarians.  We  left  the  Reichstag  that 
day  with  shame  on  our  brow  and  rage  in  our 
hearts.  The  German  nation  was  certainly  ripe 
for  every  form  of  servitude. 

Von  Deimling  had  had  less  success  a  few  years 
before.  In  those  days,  this  skinny  little  man  was 
only  a  colonel  of  a  colonial  regiment.  A  propos 
of  a  question  of  effectives,  he  had  charged  and 
captured  the  tribune,  as  though  it  were  an  enemy 
fort;  and  then  had  begim  to  thunder  forth  a  para- 
phrase, in  terms  of  military  command,  of  the 
motto,  "The  King  orders  and  your  duty  is  to 
obey."  At  first  his  speech  was  interrupted  by 
furious  exclamations,  but  in  the  end  everybody 
roared  at  the  naïve  self-conceit  of  the  unfortunate 
officer.  Never  was  an  official  orator  more  cruelly 
heckled  in  the  Imperial  Parliament. 

After  this,  can  one  be  surprised  that  this  crazy 


236  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

fellow,  whose  meninges  had  evidently  been  dried 
up  by  a  colonial  sun,  committed  the  worst  eccen- 
tricities when,  later,  the  Emperor  entrusted  him 
with  the  command  of  the  troops  occupying  Alsace- 
Lorraine?  General  von  Deimling's  quarrels  with 
the  Government  and  the  Strassburg  Press  were 
epic.  Once  more  people  decided  to  laugh  at  the 
stupid  aiFectation  of  this  hare-brained  creature, 
who,  however,  at  the  time  of  the  Zabern  affair,  pro- 
voked the  gravest  disputes. 

In  1905  I  was  directly  concerned  in  the  negoti- 
ations which  took  place  à  propos  of  the  Algeciras 
Conference. 

It  will  be  difficult  for  me  to  say  everything 
about  the  incidents  of  the  months  of  May  and 
June  of  that  critical  year.  Therefore  I  shall  speak 
with  the  discretion  which  circumstances  still  im- 
pose on  me.  The  French  Chamber  had  been 
greatly  alarmed  by  the  first  German  ultimatum 
relative  to  the  convocation  of  the  Algeciras  Con- 
ference, demanded  by  Germany.  A  French  states- 
man, who  had  urgently  summoned  me  to  Paris, 
asked  me  to  obtain  accurate  information  regard- 
ing the  Chancellor's  intentions.  Thus,  I  came  to 
have  a  long  conversation  with  Herr  von  Muhl- 
berg,  to  whom  Herr  von  Richthofen,  then  Secre- 
tary of  State  at  the  Foreign  Office,  sent  me.  The 
following  is  a  summary  of  the  declarations  Herr 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  237 

von  Muhlberg  made  to  me,  whilst  authorising  me 
to  communicate  them  to  whom  they  concerned: 

"The  Madrid  Convention  of  1880  bears  the  sig- 
nature of  Germany.  The  Anglo-French  Agree- 
ment of  1904  protests  our  signature  without  our 
consent.  Our  national  honour  is  at  stake.  We 
are  therefore  obliged  to  demand  that  all  the  sig- 
natories of  the  Madrid  Convention  be  called  to- 
gether again.  We  know  that  we  shall  be  in  a 
minority  at  this  conference,  but  cur  honour  will 
be  saved.  As  to  M.  Delcassé,  whether  he  remains 
at  the  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs  or  not  is  a 
question  with  which  we  have  nothing  whatever  to 
do.  However,  I  wish  to  inform  you  that  we  shall 
converse  with  him  no  longer." 

I  went  to  Paris  to  transmit  these  declarations. 
It  was  at  the  time  the  King  of  Spain  was  expected 
there.  M.  Delcassé's  resignation  was  not  official- 
ly known  until  after  the  departure  of  Alphonse 
XIII.  Germany,  however,  was  informed  about 
it  immediately. 

Four  weeks  later,  having  returned  to  Colmar, 
I  received  two  telegrams,  summoning  me  to  Paris. 
Suspecting  that  Moroccan  affairs  were  again  at 
stake,  I  wrote  to  Herr  von  Richthofen  that  if  he 
had  a  communication  to  make  to  me  he  might  send 
it  to  me  at  the  Hôtel  Victoria.  This  is  what  had 
happened.    In  the  absence  of  Prince  von  Radolin, 


238  BEHIND  THE  SCENÎiS 

when  the  Franco-German  negotiations  seemed  to 
be  following  their  normal  course,  Herr  von  Flot- 
tow,  the  German  Chargé  d'Affaires,  had  pre- 
sented a  fresh  comminatory  Note,  which  had 
greatly  disturbed  the  Government  of  the  Repub- 
lic. M.  Rouvier  was  quite  determined  not  to  give 
way,  although  he  hoped  to  be  informed  in  a  pre- 
cise manner  regarding  the  intentions  of  German 
diplomacy. 

I  knew  nothing,  but  I  informed  the  delegate 
of  the  Ministry  of  the  precaution  I  had  taken 
before  leaving  Colmar.  He  thanked  me  and 
asked  me  to  communicate  to  him,  without  delay, 
anything  that  came  to  my  knowledge.  In  fact, 
two  days  before  Whitsuntide,  I  received  from 
Berlin  the  following  unsigned  telegram,  in  Ger- 
man: 

"Ambassador  returns  to  Paris  to-morrow  Sat- 
urday morning.    Will  receive  you  eleven  o'clock." 

Before  going  to  the  appointment,  I  saw  again 
the  person  who  transmitted  the  instructions  of 
the  Minister  to  me.  I  was  entrusted  with  the  fol- 
lowing message  to  Prince  von  Radolin: 

"France  has  gone  to  the  extreme  limit  of  the 
concessions  she  can  make.  During  the  past  four 
weeks  the  Minister  of  War  has  taken  every  step 
to  guard  against  a  sudden  attack,  and  the  Gov- 
ernment, moreover,  has  secured  the  support  of 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  239 

England.  Therefore,  it  can  accept  no  further 
comminatory  Note." 

This  was  clear,  firm,  categorical.  On  reaching 
the  Rue  de  Lille,  I  was  immediately  shown  into 
Prince  von  Radolin's  private  study.  The  Am- 
bassador told  me  that  he  had  seen  William  II  the 
day  before,  that  the  Emperor  was  very  nervous, 
and  that  the  instructions  he  had  received  from 
him  left  no  room  for  fresh  negotiations. 

"Very  well,  your  Excellency,"  I  replied,  "Then 
there  is  nothing  for  you  to  do  but  to  pack  your 
trunks.  M.  Rouvier  will  hand  you  your  passports 
this  afternoon." 

Prince  von  Radolin  gave  a  start. 

"But  I  don't  want  to  leave  Paris,"  he  cried. 
"I  like  Paris  very  much  indeed  and  I've  some  ex- 
cellent friends  here." 

A  very  animated  discussion  then  followed  be- 
tween the  German  diplomatist  and  myself.  The 
result  was  that  we  set  to  work  to  draw  up  a  long 
telegram,  in  which  the  Ambassador  summed  up 
the  declarations  I  had  transmitted  to  him.  When 
we  reached  the  passage  in  which  English  assist- 
ance was  to  be  mentioned,  I  proposed  the  follow- 
ing wording: 

"England  is  ready  to  send  100,000  men  to  the 
Continent  immediately." 


240  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

"Suppose  we  put  300,000?"  exclaimed  Prince 
von  Radolin. 

Much  surprised  at  this  whiin  of  the  diploma- 
tist, I  pointed  out  to  him  the  necessity,  in  order 
to  obtain  an  immediate  result,  of  remaining  with- 
in the  bounds  of  probability.  He  admitted  it  with 
a  certain  amount  of  sadness. 

I  have  always  retained  an  amused  recollection 
of  this  incident.  Prince  von  Radolin  at  that  time 
had  clearly  but  one  concern — to  intimidate  his 
Government,  in  order  not  to  be  obliged  to  leave 
his  dear  Paris. 

The  despatch  was  immediately  sent  to  Berlin. 
I  left  the  Embassy  at  noon.  At  five  o'clock  the 
Prince  called  on  M.  Bouvier,  and  it  looked  as 
though  he  had  received  fresh  instructions,  for  the 
interview  had  a  character,  if  not  of  gi'eat  cordial- 
ity, at  least  of  perfect  politeness.  Meanwhile,  I 
had  given  an  account  of  my  interview  with  the 
Ambassador  to  the  delegate  of  the  President  of 
the  Council. 

I  must  confess  that  rarely  have  I  experienced 
such  great  anxiety  as  I  did  during  that  day. 
Prince  von  Radolin  had  invited  me  to  lunch  the 
next  day,  Whitsuntide,  at  the  Embassy,  but  I 
declined,  as  I  was  anxious  to  get  back  to  Colmar. 

At  the  opening  of  the  war  of  1914,  the  former 
German  Ambassador  in  Paris  was  the  object  of 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  241 

suspicion  on  the  part  of  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment, and  the  news  agencies  even  reported  that 
he  had  been  interned.  I  should  therefore  have 
abstained  from  recording  my  conversation  of  1905 
with  the  German  diplomatist  but  for  the  fact  that 
he  recently  died. 

The  politeness  of  Herr  von  Richthofen  was  al- 
most affected.  However,  it  sometimes  happened 
that  in  his  case  also  the  coarse  Prussian  reap- 
peared in  the  courteous  diplomatist. 

A  few  weeks  before  the  incident  I  have  just 
related,  I  went  one  morning  to  the  Foreign  Office 
to  attend  to  an  urgent  piçce  of  business.  Send- 
ing in  my  card  to  Herr  von  Richthofen,  I  was 
immediately  shown  into  his  office,  although  a 
slender  old  gentleman  had  preceded  me  into  the 
salon  and,  seated  in  an  arm-chair,  seemed  to  be 
discreetly  and  patiently  waiting  until  he  was 
called. 

''Your  Excellency,"  I  said  to  the  Secretary  of 
State,  "there  is  an  old  gentleman  in  the  ante-room 
that  you  might  receive  before  me.  I  am  not  in 
a  hurry." 

"Not  at  all,"  replied  Herr  von  Richthofen, 
laughing.  "He's  only  the  representative  of  the 
French  Republic." 

It  was,  indeed,  the  aged  Marquis  de  Noailles, 
French  Ambassador  to  Berlin. 


242  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

I  could  hardly  contain  myself,  so  atrocious  did 
this  gratuitous  insult  to  France  appear  to  me.  The 
Prussian  Minister  certainly  expressed  it  before 
an  Alsatian  Deputy  intentionally,  in  order  to 
show  in  what  small  esteem  he  held  the  country 
to  which  my  colleagues  and  I  were  attached  by 
all  our  heart-strings. 

With  supreme  "cheek,"  my  colleagues  of  the 
Reichstag  applied  to  all  foreign  nations  nick- 
names that  crystallised  their  hatred  and  disdain. 
The  English  were  "the  shop-keepers  of  London," 
the  Montenegrins  "ram-thieves,"  and  the  Serbians 
"rat-trap  dealers."  Even  the  Allies  of  the  Em- 
pire did  not  escape  this  mania  for  giving  insulting 
names  to  everyone  who  had  not  the  honour  of 
belonging  to  the  lordly  race.  The  Austrians  were 
commonly  called  "heroes  in  slippers"  (Pantofel- 
helden)  and  the  Italians  "the  riff-raff  of  the  Tri- 
ple Alliance"  (Dreibundshalunken) .  Never  did 
Erzberger  employ  any  other  terms  to  designate 
those  whom  he  tried  to  win  over,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  war,  to  the  cause  of  his  country.  Ah!  if 
only  the  Italians  had  known  how  they  were  de- 
tested and  despised  in  Berlin.  As  to  the  Span- 
iards, the  Pan-German  Press  incessantly  stated 
that  these  poor  "orange-eaters"  had  reached  the 
last  stage  of  idiocy.    If  I  had  the  time,  I  should 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  243 

form  a  collection  of  these  coarse  insults  and  dedi- 
cate them  to  Senor  Maura. 

The  ultra-patriots  of  Greater  Germany  had 
thus  created  a  curious  state  of  mind  not  only 
among  the  people  but  also  in  the  German  Parlia- 
ment. The  further  they  went,  the  more  the  rep- 
resentatives of  "the  supreme  race"  puffed  them- 
selves out  with  pride.  Everything  which  was  not 
Germanic  merited  but  disdain.  The  Empire  vol- 
untarily isolated  itself  in  the  midst  of  barbarian 
or  degenerate  races.  And  thus  the  ruling  idea 
of  Pan-Germanism — the  Germans  alone  possess 
a  genius  for  invention  and  organisation,  therefore 
they  have  an  absolute  right  to  impose  their  domi- 
nation on  nations  incapable  of  exploiting  their 
riches  rationally — ended  by  imposing  itself  on  ap- 
parently the  clearest  minds.  A  thousand  times 
have  I  heard  these  divagations  issue  from  the 
mouths  of  members  of  Parliament  who  spoke  quite 
reasonably  on  other  subjects.  It  was  an  inter- 
esting phenomenon  to  observe.  Undoubtedly  it 
was  a  case  of  collective  insanity. 

The  principal  reason  why  William  II  became 
unpopular  in  Germany  was  his  well-kno\\Ti  hesi- 
tancy and  pusillanimity,  whereas  the  whole  pop- 
ulation was  in  favour  of  a  more  aggressive  inter- 
national policy.  In  1913  and  in  the  spring  of 
1914  the  Berlin  crowds  were  sulky  with  the  Em- 


244  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

peror,  whilst  the  Crown  Prince  was  the  object  of 
noisy  ovations  every  time  he  appeared  in  pubhc. 
During  the  months  immediately  preceding  the 
outbreak  of  war,  the  Prince  Imperial  was  on  tem- 
porary duty  at  the  Prussian  Home  Office.  Now, 
at  nine  o'clock  every  morning,  the  students  as- 
sembled in  front  of  the  Linden  Palace  to  cheer 
the  heir  to  the  throne,  in  the  most  noisy  manner. 
The  fair-haired,  degenerate  youth  seemed  to  take 
the  greatest  pleasure  in  these  demonstrations, 
which  were  directed  against  his  father.  We  must 
not  be  too  surprised  at  this.  Such  cases  of  oppo- 
sition are  comimon  in  the  Hohenzollern  family. 
Who  has  forgotten  the  indecent  impatience  shown 
by  the  man  who  was  to  become  William  II,  during 
the  Emperor  Frederick's  death  agony,  which 
lasted  longer  than  his  successor  liked? 

I  was  present  at  that  scene  in  the  Reichstag, 
about  which  so  much  has  been  said,  when  the 
Crown  Prince  applauded  the  bellicose  declara- 
tions of  the  Conservative  member  Heydebrandt. 
The  Prince,  seated  in  the  front  row  of  the  Impe- 
rial box,  was  laughing  heartily,  and  every  time 
the  speaker  thundered  forth  one  of  his  tirades 
against  the  Chancellor,  he  thumped  the  balustrade 
with  his  gloved  hand.  His  provocative  attitude 
created  a  scandal  in  the  Reichstag,  but  the  next 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  245 

day  the  whole  of  the  Pan-German  Press  covered 
the  heir  to  the  throne  with  flowers. 

On  the  occasion  of  great  sittings,  and  particu- 
larly when  foreign  politics  were  being  discussed, 
the  Imperial  box  was  occupied  by  the  young 
princes  and  the  Court  dignitaries.  The  neigh- 
bouring gallery,  reserved  for  the  Diplomatic 
Corps,  presented  the  same  animation.  As  to  the 
public  galleries,  they  were  always  crowded.  Ad- 
mission was  by  cards,  which  were  handed  every 
day  to  the  heads  of  the  groups,  taking  into  ac- 
count the  numerical  importance  of  the  parlia- 
mentary fractions.  We  had  only  a  dozen  cards 
at  our  disposal.  The  number  of  applicants  was 
always  triple.  When  a  stormy  debate  was  ex- 
pected the  Reichstag  was  literally  besieged.  Only 
those  furnished  with  a  written  recommendation 
from  a  Deputy  were  allowed  by  the  ushers  to  en- 
ter the  big  96-yard  long  lobby.  From  half-past 
twelve,  about  200  of  these  privileged  ones, 
penned  up  at  both  ends  of  the  corridor,  patiently 
waited  until  the  desired  cards  were  handed  to 
them.  When  we  passed  before  them,  these 
wretched  people,  who  often  waited  there  until  six 
in  the  evening,  used  to  appeal  to  us  in  the  most 
lamentable  tone.  The  ushers,  moreover,  did  a 
business  in  invitation  cards  and  derived  consid- 
erable profit  thereby. 


246  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

I  always  admired  the  marvellous  endurance  of 
the  occupants  of  the  public  galleries.  Even  w^hen 
the  debates  were  terribly  monotonous  and  all  the 
members  shunned  the  House,  those  honest  folk 
who  had  succeeded,  after  a  thousand  difficulties, 
in  getting  flap-seats  stuck  there  until  the  very 
end.  Not  merely  attention  but  veritable  devotion 
was  to  be  seen  in  the  looks  of  these  privileged 
spectators.  Did  they  not  possess  the  incompar- 
able pleasure  of  being  able  for  several  hours  to 
gaze  on  the  important  men  who  held  the  destiny 
of  the  German  people  in  their  hands — that  destiny 
crowned  with  glory  and  one  that  promised  incom- 
parable wealth?  Ah!  there  again,  how  one  could  | 
detect  on  those  benches,  crowded  with  silent  wor- 
shippers, the  shamefully  servile  and  at  the  same 
time  sordidly  cupid  soul  of  the  nation  of  prey! 

A  few  concluding  words  as  regards  religious 
legislation.  This  ought  not  to  be  within  the  prov- 
ince of  the  Reichstag.  Paragraph  6  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  Empire,  which  enumerates  the 
questions  on  which  the  Federal  Council  and  the 
common  Parliament  may  legislate,  does  not  men- 
tion it.  Indeed,  we  find  the  most  dissimilar  re- 
ligious laws  in  the  various  States.  Bavaria  lives 
under  a  special  Concordat  with  the  Holy  See, 
somewhat  similar  to  the  former  French  Con- 
cordat.    In  Prussia,  there  exists  a  common  law 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  247 

that  the  Church  has  tacitly  accepted.  Wurtem- 
berg and  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Baden  have  a 
unilateral  statute  which  still  recognises  advowson 
in  the  case  of  certain  families,  a  right  abolished 
everywhere  else.  Saxony  has,  as  it  were,  excluded 
Catholics  from  the  common  law.  In  the  two 
Mecklenburgs,  a  Catholic  curé  may  administer  the 
sacraments  only  under  the  control  and  with  the,  at 
least,  tacit  approbation  of  the  Protestant  pastor  of 
his  district.  We  find,  then,  all  régimes  in  Ger- 
many, from  the  broadest  legal  protection  to  the 
most  odious  persecution.  Every  time  the  Centre 
attempted  in  the  Reichstag  to  protest  against  at- 
tacks on  religious  liberty  in  one  or  other  of  the 
Confederated  States,  the  other  parliamentary 
groups  protested,  however,  with  the  greatest  en- 
ergy against  this  attempt  to  interfere  with  the 
independence  of  the  States. 

It  was  also  on  the  plea  of  this  independence 
that  the  Conservatives  of  Prussia  and  ISIecklen- 
burg  caused  obstruction  every  time  the  parties  of 
the  Left  tried  to  criticise  the  electoral  laws  of 
these  particular  States. 

And  yet,  in  religious  matters.  Prince  von  Bis- 
marck had  succeeded  in  1873,  contrary  both  to 
the  spirit  and  the  letter  of  the  1871  Constitution, 
in  passing  the  famous  persecuting  laws  which 
called  forth  the  "Kulturkampf,"  that  formidable 


248  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

struggle  which  Protestant  Prussia  waged,  without 
regard  for  anyone,  against  the  Catholics  of  the 
Empire  until  1888,  the  date  on  which,  the  Iron 
Chancellor  having  retired  to  Canossa,  most  of  the 
Laws  of  May  were  abolished.  Of  this  arsenal  of 
repressive  measures  there  remained,  in  the  course 
of  recent  years,  only  two  clauses  of  the  Law 
against  the  Jesuits  and  the  assimilated  Congre- 
gations (the  Redemptorists  and  the  Ladies  of  the 
Sacred  Heart).  That  was  enough  for  the  Cath- 
olic Centre  to  protest  every  year  against  the  way 
in  which  these  religious  bodies  were  ostracised, 
and  for  the  Chancellor  to  make  use  of  these  last 
remains  of  the  "Kulturkampf"  as  a  powerful 
means  of  blackmailing  the  most  powerful  party 
in  the  Imperial  Parliament. 

Nothing  was  more  comical  and  at  the  same 
time  sadder  than  the  successive  attitudes  of  the 
leaders  of  the  Centre  when  the  debates  on  the 
Jesuits  recurred  periodically.  At  first,  the  Spahns 
and  the  Erzbergers  seemed  to  want  to  destroy 
everything  with  fire  and  sword.  Then,  succumb- 
ing once  more  to  their  mania  for  coming  to  com- 
promises, they  proposed  ways  of  getting  out  of 
the  difficulty.  Finally,  they  got  themselves  paid 
for  their  complete  resignation  by  a  few  personal 
advantages. 

At  last,  the  day  came  when  they  obtained  the 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  249 

abolition  of  Paragraph  II  of  the  Law,  the  one 
forbidding  Jesuits,  even  individually,  from  enter- 
ing the  territory  of  the  Confederation.  The  Press 
of  the  Centre  exulted.  Alas!  a  few  days  later 
the  Federal  Council  decreed  that  the  priest,  on 
return  from  exile,  could  not  be  permitted  to  speak 
in  the  churches,  and  that  in  lecture-halls  they 
would  only  be  allowed  to  discourse  on  non-re- 
ligious subjects.  The  Centre  was  filled  with  in- 
dignation at  these  ridiculous  restrictions,  but  it 
remained  governmental. 

The  Centre  was  quite  as  lacking  in  heroism 
when,  on  several  occasions,  it  brought  forward  its 
proposals  regarding  tolerance.  As  I  have  pointed 
out  above.  Catholics  are  literally  outlawed  in 
certain  German  states.  Now,  the  Reichstag  al- 
ways refused  to  put  an  end  to  this  persecution, 
and  the  Chancellor  was  the  first  to  refuse  to  grant 
Parliament  the  right  of  legislating  in  this  matter. 
Had  the  Centre  possessed  more  energj%  it  might 
have  obtained  important  concessions.  It  was 
known,  however,  in  Government  spheres,  that  its 
attitude  had  merely  the  value  of  a  platonic  demon- 
stration, and  no  further  notice  was  taken  of  it. 

At  the  Congress  of  German  Catholics,  we 
witnessed  every  year  quite  as  surprising  a  specta- 
cle. The  question  of  the  independence  of  the  Holy 
See  was  discussed  there  regularly.     In  the  last 


250  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

century,  the  speakers  chosen  to  interpret  the  feel- 
ings of  the  assembly  as  regards  this  matter 
demanded  the  re-establishment  of  the  temporal 
power.  From  the  day  on  which  Erzberger  played 
a  preponderant  part  in  the  Centre,  inaccurate  and 
fallacious  formulas  were  adopted,  which  the 
speakers  diluted  in  their  hollow  and  embarrassed 
phraseology. 

It  was  also  the  leaders  of  the  Centre  who 
opposed  the  publication  in  Germany  of  the 
Encyclical  of  Pius  X  on  St.  Canisius.  Spahn 
played  at  being  a  little  Father  of  the  Church.  He 
domineered  over  the  German  episcopacy.  When 
Count  Oppensdorff  entered  on  the  struggle 
against  Modernism,  the  great  parliamentary 
leader  excommunicated  him.  The  poor  Count, 
who  could  not  understand  his  expulsion  from  the 
Centre,  accepted  the  struggle,  in  which,  however, 
like  good  Roehren,  he  was  to  succumb. 

This  nobleman,  who,  after  foolishly  squandering 
in  his  youth  a  large  part  of  his  patrimony,  had 
found  wisdom  through  marriage  and  become  a 
convinced  and  practising  believer,  was  a  curious 
figure.  A  little  "cracked,"  but  possessed  of  an 
activity  as  devouring  as  it  was  scattered,  he  spent 
the  whole  of  his  time  drawing  up  reports  and 
attending  to  his  voluminous  correspondence.  His 
wife,    a   Polish    lady    of   great   intelligence    and 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  251 

beauty,  vigorously  seconded  him  in  his  work.  She 
was  often  seen  in  the  lobbies  of  the  Reichstag, 
where  she  astonished  the  members  by  her  extensive 
political  knowledge  and  the  charm  of  her  elo- 
quence. Countess  Oppensdorff,  although  she  was 
the  mother  of  fourteen  children,  had  the  freshness 
of  a  young  girl.  I  must  also  add  that  her  husband 
was  the  brother-in-law  of  Prince  von  Radolin,  the 
former  German  Ambassador  in  Paris. 

Another  feudal  lord,  young  Prince  von  Arem- 
berg,  was  my  neighbour  for  three  years.  There 
were  two  von  Arembergs  in  the  Reichstag.  One, 
a  member  of  the  committee  of  the  Centre  and  a 
personal  friend  of  Prince  von  Biilow,  worked 
chiefly  behind  the  scenes  of  Parliament.  The 
other  did  not  work  at  all.  Like  the  Hohenlohes, 
who  were  half  Austrian,  he  possessed  a  double 
nationality — Belgian  and  German.  This  big 
fellow,  who  was  a  multimillionaire,  was  especially 
proud  of  his  intimate  relations  with  William  II. 
Since  the  outset  of  the  war  he  has  shamefully  be- 
trayed the  King  of  the  Belgians,  who  also 
honoured  him  with  his  confidence.  I  was  not  at 
all  surprised  at  this. 

There  were  few  aristocrats  in  the  fraction  of  the 
Centre;  but  they  played  a  considerable  part  in  it. 
The  insupportable  Savigny  would  hardly  speak 
to  the  little  men  of  his  party.    Young  Prince  von 


252  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

Loewenstein  was  less  distant.  Nevertheless,  he 
energetically  opposed  the  advance  of  working-men 
secretaries. 

Of  all  the  parliamentary  groups,  the  Centre 
was  the  one  in  which  oppositions  between  pro- 
gramme and  tendencies  were  most  pronounced. 
The  perfectly  homogeneous  Conservative  fraction 
knew  nothing  of  these  interior  troubles;  no  more 
did  the  Democratic  Party,  for  it  had  evolved  as 
a  whole  towards  Imperialism.  The  differences  of 
the  National-Liberals  arose  chiefly  over  personal 
questions.  On  the  Extreme  Left,  the  Possibilists 
had  succeeded,  progressively,  in  checkmating  the 
doctrinaires.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Centre,  com- 
posed of  Deputies  belonging  to  all  social  circles, 
closely  grouped  by  one  interest  alone,  the  defence 
of  religious  liberties,  succeeded  only  with  difficulty, 
over  questions  of  political,  economic,  and  social 
doctrines,  in  finding  definitive  formulas.  The  dic- 
tatorship of  the  great  leaders  had,  however,  of 
recent  years,  imposed  silence  on  an  Opposition 
which  more  than  once  nearly  brought  about  a 
split.  Once  more,  patriotism,  exalted  by  the  sys- 
tematic agitation  of  the  Pan-Germans,  produced 
miracles. 

In  principle,  our  relations  with  the  Centre  were 
cordial,  but  they  grew  cool  when  the  Catholic 
party  became  Imperialist.     In  1899  we  were  still 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  253 

invited  to  the  dinners  of  the  fraction.  After  1905, 
we  considered  it  more  in  accordance  with  our 
dignity  not  to  take  part  in  them. 

Â  propos  of  invitations,  let  me  relate,  parenthet- 
ically, a  little  anecdote.  A  German  colleague, 
meeting  me  at  the  exit  to  the  Reichstag,  often 
said  to  me: 

"Will  you  give  me  the  pleasure  of  dining  with 
me?" 

On  one  occasion  I  accepted.  But  when  the 
time  came  for  paying  for  the  dinner,  my  host,  who 
had  urged  me  to  choose  the  dearest  dishes,  paid 
his  own  bill  but  pot  mine.  It  was  thus  that  I 
learnt  the  meaning  attached  to  the  word  "invita- 
tion" in  Germany.  The  surprise  of  our  guests 
was  always  very  great  when  we  settled  their  bills 
with  our  own.  "Come!  this  sort  of  thing  does  not 
take  place  among  friends,"  they  seemed  to  say. 

Germans  are  also  ferociously  fond  of  their  com- 
forts. I  remember  one  winter  day,  when  a  party 
of  Deputies  was  going  to  the  Zoological  Gardens 
to  attend  a  banquet.  It  was  terribly  cold  and  a 
cutting  sleet  was  falling  from  a  grey,  low  sky. 
All  the  inside  seats  of  the  tramcar  had  been  taken 
by  storm.  Now,  at  the  back  of  the  car  there  was 
standing  a  poor  old  woman,  insufficientlj'^  clothed 
and  coughing  lamentably.  Filled  with  pity,  I 
gave  up  my  seat  to  her  and  went  outside.    There 


254  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

was  nothing  heroic  in  the  act,  for  I  was  wearing  a 
thick  overcoat.  Now,  during  the  whole  of  that 
evening,  I  was  the  butt  for  the  jokes  of  my  col- 
leagues. "Wetterlé  is  a  thorough  Frenchman. 
Did  you  notice  his  gallantry?" 
Ah  !  what  brutes  they  are  ! 

Here  I  suspend  the  first  part  of  my  recollec- 
tions. In  the  second,  in  which  I  propose  to  be 
more  precise  and  to  follow  a  more  rigorous  chrono- 
logical order,  I  shall  treat  of  the  Parliament  of 
Alsace-Lorraine. 

From  what  precedes,  the  reader  will,  I  hope,  re- 
tain the  impression  that  official  Germany  desired 
war  and  prepared  for  it  for  a  long  time  past. 
Since  1905,  my  Alsace-Lorraine  colleagues  and 
myself  were  convinced  that  the  great  crisis  would 
soon  arise.  Under  the  powerful  impulse  of  Prince 
von  Billow,  all  parties  had  relegated  their  particu- 
lar demands  to  the  background,  in  order  to  take 
part  in  the  great  national  concentration.  The 
three  Military  Bills  of  1911, 1912,  and  1913  clearly 
announced  that  the  fatal  day  was  approaching. 
The  whole  energy  of  the  German  nation  was  di- 
rected towards  the  act  of  brigandage  which,  it 
was  thought,  was  to  bestow  universal  domination 
on  the  race  of  prey.  In  the  tribune  and  lobbies 
of  the  Reichstag  they  talked  solely  of  "world- 


I 


IN  THE  REICHSTAG  255 

politics."  The  impatience  of  the  business  world, 
which  counted  on  using  the  marvellous  instrument 
of  war  prepared  by  Parliament  to  remove  foreign 
competition  once  and  for  all,  was  restrained  with 
difficulty.  Prussia,  and  the  whole  of  Germany, 
especially  after  the  last  events  in  the  Balkans,  were 
ready,  armed  to  the  teeth,  to  strike. 

Our  warnings  were  repeated  over  and  over 
again.  In  September,  1913,  I  said  to  a  member 
of  the  French  Higher  Council  of  War,  "General, 
it  will  come  to  pass  next  May  or  June."  I  was 
only  five  weeks  out  of  my  reckoning. 

How  discomfited  must  my  former  colleagues  be 
at  the  present  time,  and  all  those  who  informed 
me,  with  a  sneer,  that  the  sudden  invasion  of 
France  would  be  but  a  military  promenade  !  That 
military  promenade  has  lasted  for  the  past  three 
years  and  is  not  near  its  end.  Twelve  great  na- 
tions have  confronted  the  wreckers  of  Berlin,  and 
"France  the  Hostage"  has  covered  herself  with 
glory  by  arresting  the  advance  of  the  enemy  of 
the  human  race. 

To-morrow,  the  Empires  of  prey  will  beg  for 
peace.  Will  the  old  democratic  spirit  of  the 
Richters  and  Liebknechts,  which  the  Pan-Ger- 
mans crushed  under  the  heavy  slab  of  their  savage 
doctrines,  then  rise  from  its  tomb  to  summon  the 
misguided  people  to  revolt?     Will  the   Hohen- 


256  BEHIND  THE  SCENES 

zollerns  and  the  Hapsburgs  see  their  disabused 
subjects  rise  against  them,  to  call  them  to  account 
for  spilling  so  much  blood  uselessly? 

An  old  German  prophecy  (dating,  it  is  said, 
from  the  fifteenth  century)  announces  that  the 
day  will  come  when  the  Emperor — alone, 
wounded,  abandoned  by  everybody,  and  driven 
into  the  Forest  of  Teutoburg — will  cry  out, 
"Where  are  my  people?     Where  is  my  army?" 

This  prophecy,  knowTi  to  all  Germany,  will 
come  to  pass,  and  on  that  day  the  world,  de- 
livered at  last  from  the  Prussian  nightmare,  will 
joyfully  celebrate  the  Festival  of  Peace,  definitely 
reconquered. 


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